this bird's tale: FLASHBACK december 2008

i've told this story before: like i have done countless other trips to philly, i have breakfast at a diner before heading to the airport. i give a hot cup of coffee, a donut, and 5 bucks to the homeless lady bundled in blankets beside the building. i'm paying it forward.
FLASH FORWARD december 14, 2012
i am sitting in my living room...eating lunch...watching the local news. they begin talking about a school shooting. any school shooting is horrible, but this one. this one is different. far more devastating. i spend the rest of my day in tears as more and more news becomes available. 26 people are dead. 6 adults. 20 beautiful first graders. my heart is shattered.
FLASH FORWARD december 15, 2012
as more information becomes available, facebook becomes a political soapbox for people...some screaming for gun control...others opposed to it...some people opening a debate about god in schools...i immediately close my computer. do these people have the right to discuss this? of course they do. but i have the right not to read it. this is not a time to argue politics...it's a time to grieve and pay respect to those who lost their lives.
FLASH FORWARD december 18, 2012
the debates have subsided...people seem to understand it can wait a few days. now a new movement has begun. people on facebook and twitter are screaming "PAY IT FORWARD!!!!"...i'm proud of all my friends for pushing this movement. some of them are truly committed to it. the only thing that saddens me: why would it take a senseless act of violence to wake people up? shouldn't we ALWAYS be paying forward?
need some ideas for paying forward? my first thought is: it should come from the heart...and it doesn't necessarily have to cost money...but here are some simple ideas:

over~tip your waiter/bartender/delivery driver
pay for a random person's dinner (in the drive~thru: the car behind you; in a restaurant: pick a random table)
leave a gift card on someone's windshield (grocery store, target, coffeehouse)
take a cup of coffee to your doorman or security guard at your office
give that homeless person your spare change WITHOUT questioning what (s)he might spend it on
give your time to a homeless shelter
go visit people in a nursing home
donate toys to toys for tots or your local children's hospital
bake cookies for your teachers, policemen, first responders
leave a brief note and money in a book in the bookstore or library
scrape all the windows in the parking lot before you go to work
buy a homeless person a blanket
give a stranger flowers
give a stranger candy (i suggest nothing with peanuts...you never know who might be allergic!)
let the person behind you in line go ahead of you, even if they have a HUGE cart full
pick an angel off the angel tree: get them everything on the list plus something fun
send a care package to a soldier...
leave quarters in all the gum ball machines at the store
take dog biscuits and cat treats to your local animal shelter
buy a weeks worth of groceries and give them to a needy family (you can find a family in need thru a local church or soup kitchen)