Pay It Forward

There is no wrong way to perform an act of kindness.

If you want to see a man come to his senses, try something like, Do you happen to carry a rubber in your wallet? Did I mention I'm not on the pill?

I guess it's hard for people who are so used to things the way they are - even if they're bad - to change. 'Cause they kind of give up. And when they do, everybody kind of loses.

Because it proves that you don't need much to change the entire world for the better. You can start with the most ordinary ingredients. You can start with the world you've got.

It's really hard to know what's a good idea when you're growing and these ideas don't hold still and neither do you.

What's weird is when you mean a lot more to somebody else than they ever meant to you. I mean, a whole lot more. Like life on two whole different planets.

I no longer think I lack judgment about men. I will never again say my instincts are poor, no sir, because how do I keep finding this same guy over and over? I am beginning to think I have a very keen sense of judgment, only it would seem that it is on somebody else’s side.

The most important thing I can add from my own observations is this: knowing it started from unremarkable circumstances should be a comfort to us all. Because it proves that you don’t need much to change the entire world for the better. You can start with the most ordinary ingredients. You can start with the world you’ve got.

Well, you’re seeing what ain’t there.” Or what you wanted for yourself and never got. What we don’t get, we see everywhere we look. What we won’t let ourselves do, be, we refuse to tolerate in any other living soul. Arlene was beginning to notice this.

But you can’t change the world on the honor system. Shoot, anybody knows that. Leave people on the honor system, they don’t do it. As soon as you look away, they just don’t. I mean, look what happened.

She learned so much from these little talks with her son. He always swore he’d learned it from her and was only mirroring it back, but somehow the wisdom of her own advice surprised her as it came out of his mouth, and left her wondering if she was wise enough to heed it.