Old Idea of Gratitude and "PIF"

Hello
 
Paying it forward is one of the easiest things to do but one of the hardest concepts for people to understand.  It involves an old idea called gratitude.  Some people can accept pay it forward with gratitude and some treat it as perplexing as calculus formulas for atomic fusion.
 
I learned this in my present profession of certified nursing assistant. A nursing assistant's work involves great reward, great misunderstanding, great sorrow and doing things and touching things most people would consider gross and beyond thier station in life.
 
I pay it forward in patience, love, understanding, forgiveness and dealing with the powers that be in quiet reticence.  (my spelling is not always great nor is my sentence structure. I left Iowa State University in Ames with a masters degree, learning disabilities trying to wrestle with the concept that I left high school branded as retarded and college with an IQ in the top 1.5% of all the people in the world.  Believe me it's still hard not to feel retarded even though I got my masters in 1997.)
 
As a nursing asssistant I do what needs to be done even though it means I do move as fast as other CNA's or it seems that I answer call lights slow.
 
I pay it forward going to work in a car that needs drastic help in rain, fog, rain and fog, sleet, ice, fog and ice, blizzards because those people need the care.  I never drive less than 70 miles to work in all conditions. There are times helping these people has helped me. Making them feel better about thier life makes me feel better about mine and then enables me to help the next person either be cleaner and drier or show them that thier life isn't over, that they do make a difference in many ways to many people in their lives including themselves.  That they have alot to give and a lot to live for. (I know ended my sentence in a preposition)  Whether hosptial or care center I try to make my shift the best time they ever had and in doing so it make a good or great time for me.  Helping these people makes them want to help others which is a great impact because some of them are even ashamed they're sick.  To wake them up to who they are and what they can give is better than being Willie Microsoft even though he has the money to replace his ride even though he doesn't see the trucks of his  dreams that he saved on autotrader disappear cause I didn't have the money to get one of them.
 
Having people telling me I've made an impact on their lives and then telling them they've made one on mine and they can make an impact on others is being of service in a way I think God would approve of.  Paying it forward is being of service in a way that washes over people in a tidal wave of love.
 
James Johnson