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Pay It Forward

Once again. It's 9:13 on another Thursday blog-posting night. This blog actually has a topic for us to expand on, but now that I've been spoon-fed a topic, I can't write. And I thought writing without a topic was hard? I spoke too soon.

So? What's this blog even about? Oh, right. My mentor text. The famous inspirational film, "Pay It Forward". And if you haven't already noticed my mastering of the blog-writing process, you know; the sarcastic punchlines, the back and forth-ness, the tendency to insert half-real words into my work.. I'd like to subtly steer your attention away from my actual book. Not because I don't want to tell anyone about it, certainly not because I haven't written a lot (trust me, I'm into it), but because I'd rather it be a surprise, my mentor text; a hook for suspense and anticipation. So, by "subtly", I mean I will actually very obviously steer your attention away by telling you straight-forwardly. And you, not even noticing or being phased by it.

Anyways, back to the film.

This family movie's plotline is mainly based off of the power of passing the good deed on, and "paying" it up. One of the main characters, Trevor McKinney, is a young boy who learns early on what it means to understand the troubled world around us. (Wow, i just sounded like some sort of convincing voice on a movie-preview..) His social studies teacher, Mr. Simonet, challenges him to idea of changing the world - then doing it. Trevor then rigorously applies himself to his idea, and comes up with challenging those who have been done a favor, to pass it on to three new people, who would then pay it forward again. Instead of paying it back and just returning the favor.

This movie serves as a mentor text for my book because, well, why not? See what I did there? I tricked you into thinking I was actually going to go against my word and tell you more about my book! Ha, maybe. But what I will tell you, is the similarities in my story, and in the Pay It Forward story. My story does involve a young boy, and an adult authority figure. Just as Mr. Simonet and young Trevor, the two characters in my story build an everlasting friendship by inspiring one another, and motivating eachother.I mean, nothing is as cliche as a homeless man and a generous, yet ignorant, boy and his desire to help.. obviously. The moral that I was trying to establish with this idea was also similiar to that of Jim Carey's star role, "Yes Man". Paying forward favors and always saying "yes!" to everything is never going to hurt, it will always have a positive impact...but ofcourse relying on the circumstances that you'd be saying "yes". Even though I am sure that society today has pounded these simple ideas into our heads and the minds of young children, I wanted to provide an instance where paying it forward was rewarded, rewarding, and real. Truly a moral to explore.

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Actions Speak Louder Than Words

So here I am.. at 8:50PM on a Thursday night, concerned about how I'll find the time to do anything in the next two months, worried about some of my grades because I procrastinate or just flat out forget about my work, and of course.. filling out the infamous Common App. Typical stress, but hey, who am I to complain. As the average teenager would say, "I'm over it".

The second I realized I had forgotten about this blogpost and that it had to be written and posted within the next hour, every excuse I have ever told, or thought about, created a filmstrip across my brain. The first was my computer malfunctioning in some way (even though, in reality, that does happen all the time, so I probably shouldn't cry wolf) forcing me to hand-write my post and hand it in for partial or no credit. The next excuse was having to complete the Common Application for 11+ schools and stressing myself out so much that it was almost impossible for me to write a blogpost about absolutely nothing and anything at all at the same time. After meticulously trying to decide which excuse to use, I settled for not using one. My conclusion and reasoning brought me back to the realization that even if I did have a good excuse, that wasn't going to compensate for the credit from actually doing the assignment. The post would still be late, and the only satisfaction I would have would be that I, all by myself, thought of an excuse clever enough to feel acceptable. So, I put the Common Application and my brain on hold for a bit so I could prove to myself that I wasn't as lazy as I thought, and OBVIOUSLY so I could blog....! And, since my computer is actually malfunctioning right now, I'm "texting" this entire blog post with my two thumbs. Yes, on my phone. Typing every endless thought into an e-mail, copying and pasting into Blogger.com, and if you can actually read this right now, I'm successfully posting this. JUST to prove to myself and of course to my grades, that I'm not that much of a lazy procrastinator. But since I waited and forgot for so long that I was supposed to do this, and I wanted to put it off and make up an excuse, I guess I'm contradicting too.. Then again, you can call me a lot of names but actions still speak louder than words.

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Children's book.

It is one of the most gut-wrenching issues of the world today that we have yet to understand. "Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime". Homelessness. The problem is not only that a person goes without shelter, warmth, food, and money to supply what one needs: what we take for granted. The problem is, what is our protocol? Do we give the person what they need, or do we teach them how to obtain it themselves? Or do we choose to ignore the problem and carry on with our content and "above all" selves?

Maxwell is just a young boy attending school everyday just as everyone does. He shows no interest or motivation to do anything, to learn anything. He walks around as if he is, indeed, "above all". Maxwell is the main character of this story, and his attitude speaks volumes. His constant mood, never mind his attitude, is ignorance. Every so often, Maxwell visits the local market to pick up a few things. When Max enters and exits the store, there is always a man who is there who is without a home, without a family, without dignity. Max, as expected, pays no attention to the man. One day, the man approaches Max. Still no attention, and the boy carries on with his day. The next time Max makes a visit to the store, the man forces himself to influence this boy, to inspire the boy to learn the lessons of life and beware of the inconsiderate future to come. He wants Max to follow a different path than that of himself and land himself anywhere but a puddle of loneliness outside of a grocery store. The two build a strong relationship, teaching each other something different each day. The boy's ignorance is slowly fading, until the slightest disruption. One day when the boy is making his regular visit to the man, he notices he is not there. The man is not in the bakery across the street where he typically would be for warmth in the winter, he is not in the store, and he is not at the police station.

To develop the boy's perspective and connect with Maxwell as close as possible, I collected pictures of grocery stores from child eye level. I carefully observed the activity of a homeless person and a typical day in that person's shoes. I decided based on what I would do if I were in Max's position. Would I provide the homeless man with the tools to succeed, or would I provide him with food, money, shelter - anything? I re-evaluated my thoughts, and my morals. After doing so, I proceeded to use my research as an aid for my writing, for my dialogue, and for the way I created my characters' attitudes towards not only a specific situation, but every situation. I began to wonder what if I was the homeless man himself. What would you do?