How can you change the world by your effort? This question probably thrills most people. To change the world! You are probably kidding. We are meagre and frail. Our effort is just like a drop of water in the ocean, and the world has no expectation from us. Often such an excuse makes us shrink from what we can do and stiffen our mind of thinking of contributing our share.
The kid in the movie, stimulated by his teacher’s social study assignment, figures out such an idea of paying the love forward, i.e., if he can help three people, and then each of the three will pay it forward to three more, thus the number of people multiplying. Originally, it never occurs to the teacher this can be taken into action and he comes up with this assignment, just for the sake of helping children to build in confidence or whatsoever. However, our little hero takes this seriously. He wants to make people believe that the world can be changed or can be bettered by people’s efforts. First, he brings a homeless man home, giving him food, letting him take shower and talking him into self-respect. The man retained his dignity, but not soon he seems to get addicted to drug and loses heart again. This failure is a big hit to our little hero, but he soon finds another target, his teacher. He arranges a date for his teacher and her mother, whose husband leaves her for alcohol addiction. They too actually fall in love, but to his disappointment, his teacher is not ready or brave enough to have that kind of intimacy, for he has never had such sort of relationship. At the same time, the kid’s third attempt failed too. To his surprise, his ‘pay it forward’ movement as a matter of fact has been carried right through New York and other places. Sadly, at the end, he is murdered by a gang of little bullies.
I thought I would be touched by such benign, which used to make me feel like doing the same kind of good deed, but now, my heart is stiffened. I am not sure whether it’s because I know more of the reality, or because I don’t want to ask for trouble. Of course, the movie presents us a utopia-like idea, whose effects are quite doubtable under the context of this world. Who wants to sacrifice themselves for the sake of other people? It is not that people are no longer kind-hearted, but it’s the reality that drives us backward.
