Pay it forward? Nope. Time (for me) to pay it back.

There's a belief that one's karma is determined by past actions. So if you want to know how you were doing earlier, look at your life today. If you want to know where you're headed, look at what you're doing with your life today. Simple rules that are not meant to be taken to the extreme. Naturally, a 7-year-old's brain tumor has nothing to do with bad karma!!

Rhetorically, the idea that you can empower yourself to make a positive difference feels so much more enlightening than doing penance for fear of retribution. But I can't honestly say I am in the position to pay anything forward; if I look back on my own good fortune, my path has been paved by the love, support, compassion, and selflessness of both specific as well as nameless individuals. They have been as much my teachers as they've been benefactors, so I feel I owe it to them to make better use of my abundance.

At the start of the new year, I resolved to be more generous in my relationships - something that  has proven to be more rewarding and fulfilling than I ever could have expected. Now it's time to roll up my sleeves and get to work by doing more for those in need, regardless if I know them personally or not. For years I've been telling myself I need to do more than just contribute monthly to my sponsor-children. If there are people willing to dedicate their entire lives to different causes, surely I can tear myself away from the magazine, shopping mall, Internet, or wherever else I am spending my spare time to make an effort to and thereby a difference.

If youngsters can take it upon themselves to perform selfless acts, without any profit to themselves other than the satisfaction of having given unto others, then what possible excuse could I have for not joining them? Besides the fact that I take my hat off to their parents and teachers, they are, to me, the true pay-it-forwarders! RESPECT...