Critically acclaimed novelist and award-winning short-story writer Catherine Ryan Hyde spoke about her novel Pay It Forward and its film adaptation to a capacity crowd at Kennedy Hall's Alumni Auditorium July 16. Her lecture followed a screening of the movie "Pay It Forward," which stars Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment.
The novel and movie tell the story of 12-year-old Trevor McKinney, who, encouraged by his social studies teacher to "Think of an idea to change the world and put it into action," develops the notion of "paying it forward." Trevor's plan is to do good deeds for three people. Instead of asking them to pay him back, he encourages them to "pay it forward" by doing three good deeds for others. The idea catches on and soon people are "paying it forward" all over the country.
Hyde said she developed the "pay it forward" concept one night when her car stalled in Los Angeles. She got out of the car and saw two men running towards her with a blanket. They put out the engine fire of Hyde's car and disappeared before she had a chance to thank them. From that night on, Hyde has helped other stranded people, encouraging them to pass the good deed on to someone else. Eventually she developed the idea of "a person who owes a favor to someone but it doesn't matter who" into the novel Pay It Forward.
Following the release of the movie, Hyde established the Pay It Forward Foundation, which focuses on inspiring young people to change the world. The foundation works with schools to help students explore ways in which they can make a positive contribution to society and also helps provide them with the materials necessary to realize their goals. As a result, students all over the country have become involved in community service projects. In developing the foundation, Hyde decided to focus on children who, like Trevor, are between 11 and 12, the "magical age" when they begin to question the world but still retain a crucial optimism and faith in the other people.
Hyde noted that while we are taught to obey the "Golden Rule," few people actually do so. After talking to an acquaintance who justified stealing because he had been stolen from, Hyde observed that "we do onto others as we have been done to" and therefore violence and disrespect breeds further conflict and hostility. The "pay it forward" concept turns this type of behavior around by reproducing good deeds and creating positive cycles.
When asked by people what they can do to "pay it forward," Hyde refuses to give them answers. She believes that part of the concept of paying it forward is having individuals recognize on their own the needs of others. Rather than denying them the experience of discovering how they can help others, Hyde encourages people to take the initiative of enacting a positive change on their own. Although Hyde stated that she did not intend to create a social movement, she has heard of people "paying it forward" in places as far away as Australia.
Hyde's presentation was the first summer lecture on campus this year sponsored by the Cornell School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions. The lecture series continues through the beginning of August.
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