What Does It Mean To "Pay It Forward"

Once upon a time, a man and his young son set out to plant trees in their backyard. The

man, being of limited means, decided he and his son would set out to do the work of digging, setting, and caring for the trees.

One Friday morning, on a beautiful Spring day, the man and his son went to purchase two large trees, but upon seeing the pricing on the mature trees he decided to purchase young saplings as they looked the healthiest and were a bit less costly.

Later that day, as the boy and his father were working on digging a sufficient hole for the tree roots to rest comfortably in, the afternoon sun began to take a toll on them. Sweat dripped from their brows and the young boy, feeling exhausted and very much wishing he was playing games with his friends instead of planting trees in the hot sun, said in a defeated voice, "Dad, this is really hard and I'm so hot!"

The father decided they should take a break so they set the shovels down and found a spot to relax and cool off. They sipped their drinks and enjoyed the cool breeze and the father was grateful to have this time to spend with his son. The young boy, feeling sufficiently cooled off, was dreading having to begin the hard work again.

The boy asked his father, "Why are we doing this anyway?" He whined, "It's so hard and it's hot out father, wouldn't you rather do something else today?"

The father smiled at his young son, and with a patient voice replied, "It sure is hot, but planting trees is so important. One day many years from now these trees will grow large and provide much needed shade." he said.

The young boy finally thought he found a weakness in his father's reasoning and quickly said, "Father, these trees are so tiny and young. We will never be able to sit under these trees for shade. It will be 100 years before they are large enough to provide us with shade to sit under."

The boy snickered a bit, knowing he had finally found fault with his father's reasoning and assured himself that his father surely would not have a come-back for his argument. He sat satisfied that now his father would see how pointless this task was, and would ultimately decide to give up on this hard work and he would finally be able to play with his friends.

The father, patient again in his demeanor, only smiled and pointed upward to the large canopy of the tree they currently sat under enjoying the shade.

The boy looked perplexed so the man said softly, "Someone many years ago planted this tree knowing they would never be able to enjoy it's shade. That's why we are able to sit under it and cool ourselves now." He continued in his gentle way, "Sometimes son, we do things to make the world a better place for the future. Everything isn't always about us."

The boy felt foolish but began to understand that he was part of something much bigger than himself, as he finished digging he thought about the future young boy who would sit under his tree to cool off after a hard afternoon's work someday, and he smiled feeling proud of himself and the legacy his hard work would leave for the future.

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~This story was inspired by an old Greek proverb and while the idea isn't mine, I felt it was important to tell the story filled with ancient wisdom in a modern day context because it is intended to remind us that the things we do matter to the next generation. It's not necessarily about planting trees as the story suggests, it's an allegory designed to remind us that we should often think about leaving things better than we found them, and sometimes we sacrifice so that future generations can prosper.

Master Funakoshi was a proponent of this, and as told in his book, Karate-Do My Way Of Life, he often would clean up the public restroom after visiting the village so the next person who went into the facility had a nice area to use. Even though it was left untended and messy when he arrived.

When we live our life always remembering that we ought to take pride in our actions, it binds us to the future, and weaves us into the fabric of society in a way that not only makes the world better, but it reminds us of how important our part in it is.

~Sensei Jen