Pay It Forward

It has taught me how to think of the positive in every negative situation, like how this made me a much stronger and mature person. This has shown me that nothing is impossible if you truly want something to happen you have to act on it and do what needs to be done in order for things to turn for the better. Many people in my life have always put me down and told me things were impossible but every day I prove them wrong and going through all that I did it made me more motivated to accomplish my goals I have set out for

I’ve had many moments that I didn’t know would change my life, but they ended up impacting me in a big way. One moment was when I applied for kindergarten at my old school. I was only three, so I had no idea how important that time would be. I ended up on the waiting list, but I got in. That school had a huge influence on me. I loved going there. I made many friends that I will have forever, and I learned so much. I had no idea that school would mean so much to me, but looking back on it, it was a huge part of my childhood. Another time was when I interviewed to get into Park. Being accepted to Park and choosing to go to this school took me on a completely different path than if I had gone somewhere else. Right now, I’m in the process of applying to high schools. I don’t know what will happen, but one moment can change everything. In the future I’m also going to have to apply to colleges. There are also other moments that changed my life. An example is when my mom signed me up for gymnastics. I didn’t know I would like it so much, but now I love it. This has had an impact on my identity and the the schools I’ve attended have too. I’m still young, so I’m going to have many times that will change my life and identity in the

1. When Trevor first presents his “Pay It Forward” plan—as a way to change the world for the better—many dismiss it. What does their rejection say about Trevor’s plan and what does it say about those who dismissed it? :

Have you ever had a turning point, a huge change in life that either negatively or positively changed you? Warriors Don’t Cry, by Melba Pattillo Beals, I Never Had It Made, by Jackie Robinson, and “The Father of Chinese Aviation”, by Rebecca Maskell, all show the main character being hugely impacted. Melba Pattillo Beals, Jackie Robinson, and Feng Ru all had life changing experiences which hugely impacted both their countries and their lives.

One emotion I felt during the reading of Pay it Forward was sadness and anger. I felt upset or angry when Arlene slapped Trevor across the face, I felt this way because Trevor said “Dad is not coming back”.No where in this scene did I feel it was necessary to hit Trevor. Trevor had done nothing wrong it was Arlene’s fault that she can not accept the truth and is afraid of the future. During this time in the book I could tell that Arlene was emotionally unstable due to the leaving of the father Rick. I felt upset because the mother knew that what Trevor had said was true but she did not want to face the sad truth. The reason I reacted how I did was because the fact that the mother would hit her son because she a had a tragic event and her son

Similarly to Christy Brown in My Left Foot, everybody has experienced significant moments in their lives that have shaped the people they are. There is one specific moment in my life that stands out to me as a substantial event in determining my character as a human being. Likewise to Christy Brown finally being able to use writing as a form of communication, I was finally able to appreciate how lucky I am and realize that many other people are not as fortunate. When I was in fourth grade, I stepped outside of my comfort zone and unknowingly gained information that was difficult for me to comprehend at the time, but ended up having an immense effect on the way I view other people. That very day, I learned to treat everybody with kindheartedness because you never know what he or she may be going through in his or her life.

Every individual comes to a point in their lives during which they reach a tipping point between adolescence and adulthood. I happened to reach that tipping point when my mom told me the story of how our family got to America and to the position we are in now. Before I heard this story, I used to complain about small issues all the time, and take important things for granted, but after hearing the story, I am extremely thankful for how we are living and all that we have. I felt like a changed man due to my family's past and it gave me unbelievable amounts of determination to work hard and to become successful in the future, not only for myself, but also so that I could make sure my family would never be in that situation ever again.

The way Trevor affects change is through multiple ways. In one way he changed a gangbanger area like New York, from helping a lonely old lady with her withering garden to when she died she had given her will to a grocery store clerk who then bought a bike, saved a man from getting killed in a back alley, and that man went back to New York to spread the word, even though it was awfully altered to fit gang violence. He had helped his social studies teacher with getting a girlfriend, and in turn had helped his own

It is interesting how sometimes it is he smallest decisions that can change your life forever. For me it was deciding to enter a submission in the VFW Voice of Democracy competition that changed the course of my life. Achieving success in the contest and the opportunities I experienced afterwards led me down a different path than I first planned and was a call to action to pursue a career in public

This experience transformed me. When the doctors found something weird in my breast, they told me I had breast cancer. From that moment forward, my life changed and I couldn’t grasp why this was happening to me. However, with the help of my family, friends, and my faith I was able to pull through.

Almost everyone faces setbacks, failures or something that has consequences that end up helping them. For me, this would be getting the starting spot for football from my competition. I had to work extremely hard to get it. It took so much time, effort, and hard work, but I eventually got it. Getting this starting spot in football has made me the person I am now. This is how it has affected me in life and how it has made the person I am today.

I learned to regard situations more objectively rather than overly emotionally. While the knowledge that I may have made the wrong decision when I allowed my brother to accept a plea deal in place of a trial, haunted me for years, until more than three years and hundreds of hours of therapy later my brother and I met again. I knew then I made the right choice. He was able to heal from the damage my father’s “discipline” caused; he was able to accomplish what I was scared we never could; we were able to overcome the abuse. That experience, facing my past and being able to let it go, showed me how much I have healed; it taught me to live, forgive and keep fighting.

One of the things that got my attention very early in the moment was the use of hindsight bias which we learned about in class in this movie. Whether it was by her cousin or her parents when they realized what was happening. I noticed so much more than I have before in movies now it wasn’t just reactions I was waiting and looking for but the things that we have learned in class also. I didn’t even notice I was doing it until I looked back at my notes and realized so many of the things I took down were what we had gone through

never would've even thought that so many girls, ones I knew in elementary school and ones I met that year, would drastically shape, and scar, my life. A lesson that I learned then has been guiding my life ever since then. I've learned that helping others become strong makes me stronger. I feel that it could affect many people.

Maybe someday I'll have kids of my own. I hope so. If I do, they'll probably ask what part I played in the movement that changed the world. And because I'm not the person I once was, I'll tell them the truth. My part was nothing. I did nothing. I was just the guy in the corner doing my usual thing..