Pay It Forward Already, Why Don't Ya?

I know we're all familiar with "pay it forward" concept; heck, didn't they even make a movie about it? Like forever ago?

I'm sad to say that, personally, I have only ever experienced one significant random of act of kindness (I'm not going to count the "hold the door open" basic good manners sort of thing). But one time quite a few years ago, while in the drive through at Tim Horton's, I discovered I had no wallet. I had my purse but had somehow managed to leave my wallet at home.

Well, that was awkward.

I was right at the speaker when I realized this but I still could have pulled quickly out of line. Actually, I honestly don't really remember why I didn't now ... I guess I must have really needed that coffee. Anyway, I rolled down the window and explained the situation rather sheepishly, that I just realized my wallet wasn't in my purse, but that I was a regular customer and would they consider letting me pay next time.

Yeah, I admit, that might have been a little ballsy. But that is neither here nor there to my story.

Which continued something like this - the employee asked me to repeat what I had just said and then told me to wait a minute. A new voice came on (male, of course) who repeated my request back to me. Yes, sir. Please, sir. He told me to drive up to the window. Okay, thank you.

It was a cold winter day and I was just about to put my window back up when a voice from behind me yelled out "It's okay. I'll get it." I looked over my shoulder to see the door of the car behind me open and the driver get up and run over to my window. "It's okay. I'll get your coffee for you" and he pushed a twonie into my hand.

[Sidebar: For anyone wondering, this is a twonie. 

You know, twonie ... as in two dollars. 

Ah, there you go. Now you got it.

Just one other thing. 

On the first day, God created a loonie. 

And on the second day, God created a twonie. 

Don't confuse them.

Just. Don't.

We now resume regular our regularly scheduled 

programming already in progress.]

"No, no, that's okay. You don't have to do that" and I tried to hand the twonie back but he was having none of it. "No, that's okay. I want to" and he ran back to his car as I yelled "Thank you!". Well, now I felt even a bit more embarrassed than I had when trying to explain my plight over the speaker. But I also felt something else - a smile spreading across my face. What a nice guy!

I continued to the window, where I handed the twonie over and explained that the person behind me in line had given it to me. Following which, the manager (the male voice on the speaker) walked up, took one quick look at me and said "Oh yeah, I know you. I would have given you the coffee." I laughed, thanked him and drove away with my coffee.

My point of this little story? That there are still good people out there? That we need not give up all hope in this world? Well, sure, maybe, if you really want.

But this little story is all about me and how it made me feel. And, you know what, it made me feel pretty darn good. And it made me realize that I would like to do something like that for someone else some day. (Don't get me wrong - there is a darn good chance I would have made a similar gesture in a similar situation anyway, but this just made me more consciously think about it.)

So, how corny nifty is this? Apparently there exists a global initiative aiming to inspire over three million acts of kindness, a "Pay It Forward Day". And one of the individuals that is heavily involved in promoting this is from the Annapolis Valley, practically my next door neighbour.

And what I think is the best part of it all ...

The interesting thing about the Pay It Forward Day concept is that organizers around the world may never know how successful it is. That is because participants don’t have to register or sign up. 

“There’s no work to it,” Huntley said. “People can do something on their own.” 

On April 24, people from all walks of life can give to someone and make a positive difference.

I like that. It's kind of like the whole "don't let your left hand know what your right is doing", but on a grander scale. So what say you, good people?

April 24th is roughly seven weeks away. Plenty of time to think up a random act of kindness (or two) that works for you. Or just wing it. Whatever.

As long as we don't forget to pay it forward.

Money Matters

In all honestly, I must admit that at first I really wasn't quite sure exactly what to make of this.

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the U.S. Treasury Department is violating the law by failing to design and issue currency that is readily distinguishable to blind and visually impaired people.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a 2006 district court ruling that could force the United States to redesign its money so blind people can distinguish between values.

Suggested solutions include making bills different sizes, including raised markings or using foil printing which is a method of hot stamping that is tactically discernable.

Judge Judith Rogers, in a ruling on a suit by the American Council of the Blind, wrote that the Treasury Department's failure to design and issue paper currency that is readily distinguishable to the visually impaired violates the Rehabilitation Act's
guarantee of "meaningful access."

The ruling notes that although a large majority of other currency systems have accommodating the visually impaired, the US government was unable to explain why it's currency should be any different. Apparently with the euro, for example, each banknote has a predominant color and large numbers to make them easier to see. Also, the larger the denomination of the euro, the larger the banknote.

Which I thought was interesting as quite frankly, it wasn't something I had ever given too much thought to before. And yet, my initial reaction remained muted. Although I would consider myself a big advocate for those with disabilities, wasn't this asking a bit much? After all, what would be the cost involved in redesigning American currency?

And apparently, at least some in the blind community had similar concerns, questioning the cost and usefulness of any proposed measures.

Still, it motivated me to take a closer look at our Canadian currency. Which meant, firstly, that I had to lay my hands on some but that's a whole another story. I thought I vaguely remembered raised dots on some of the newer bills which I had always sort of assumed was some form of Braille. But when I was finally able to dig out some bills, I couldn't find any.

Looked like a case for a little more research.

Lo and behold, if our ever-vigilant government hadn't recently noted that our Canadian bills are gradually losing the little tiny bumps that havebeen placed in the upper right corner of bank notes introduced since 2001 that have helped the blind know what denomination they have in hand. Turns out that the raised dots are not braille, after all, but rather are arranged in patterns that a blind person can feel to quickly identify a denomination, from $5 to $100. Pretty cool.

But although the dots were specially treated to ensure they endured, apparently they've been flattening out with use and have become unreadable. Which would help explain why my quick examination of a few 5s and a few 20s showed no bumps. The 5s were too old and although on closer inspection they could indeed be found on the 20s, I really had to look for them.

Apparently, these newer bills also have other special features to help those with poor vision - larger numbers and contrasting colours - but the truly blind have no other option (outside of the raised bumps) with the exception of a device that reads the bill and indicates its denomination by tone, vibration or even voice. A device which is is provided free of charge by the Bank of Canada under a program that costs more than $250,000 a year.

Here in Canada, the option of producing bills of differing sizes, as some countries do, has been rejected as being too costly. So now the Bank of Canada is working on the problem for the next series of notes, which are also being revamped to stay one step ahead of counterfeiters.

Turning my mind back to the US bills, I recalled the one reason why I really mind American money - it's all the same colour. Now if that's enough to annoy me - for whom a second, closer look will solve the problem - I can only begin to imagine the challenge for the blind and visually impaired. Particularly when you add in no tactile features to help determine the value of each note.

And seeing as how currency tends to be revamped a fair bit anyways in an ongoing attempt to thwart the counterfeiters, perhaps it's not such an unreasonable demand to make after all.

H/T to Pipecleaner Dreams