Worldwide Picks: What Non-Americans Love About Life in the USA

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Philanthropic Dominoes

Philanthropy and the idea of “paying it forward.”

Americans have an extremely individualistic society. At the same time, American bi/millionaires are the most generous. The Middle East and Asia are societies that revolve around family and community, but you don’t hear of Saudi or Chinese millionaires building funds to encourage bi/millionaire philanthropy (Warren Buffett), or dedicating years of research to building toilets aimed at revolutionizing water sanitation. I’ve seen latrines contaminate well water, and I couldn’t be more excited that Bill Gates gives a crap and understands the implications of WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene).

Going back to the “pay it forward” mentality. On a trip to Good Will, while I studied in the US, the lady who was standing before me at the register, asked the cashier to include the item I’d put on the counter on her bill. I was looking the other way and didn’t hear her make the request, so when my turn came to pay, I was informed that the lady who’d just left the store had already paid for my item. I was dumbfounded.

I ran outside, to thank my anonymous benefactor, but the lady in question just brushed it off as nothing. “Just pay it forward”, she yelled from across the parking lot, as she got into her car. That was my first time hearing this phrase.

I later noticed other people doing similar “acts of kindness.” The father of the girl I was nannying, paying for the order of the next person at the drive-through, joining Reddit years ago, I remember someone telling a story about a benefactor helping them when their car broke down, and being instructed to “pay it forward,” or browsing through a sub called “random acts of kindness”…

Back home, we’ll occasionally buy lunch or a nice pastry for a homeless person, I’ve seen my dad contribute to someone’s grocery bill when they appeared short on change, but I never once witnessed these “random acts of kindness”, like you have in the US. People will help those who appear to be in need, but not pay for a random person’s meal/coffee/etc, when, for all they know, that stranger could be better off than them. The idea that you’re just doing this “random act” to brighten a stranger’s day, knowing that they’ll likely return the gesture to another person, and so on and so forth, genuinely amazes me.