Everyone has probably heard the term of paying it forward. Hell there was even a movie about it. Did you really ever stop to think on just what these words mean. Well I got a taste of it over the past 24 hours.<\/p>\n
It all started with a call from my sister Mary. She had called to tell me she had not heard from my brother Jake for a while and was starting to worry. Well at first we thought it was Jake being Jake. My brother was never any good at keeping in touch with his family. When my sister started calling his cellphone though that’s when the worrying started setting in because as much as he did not always contact us, he was usually pretty good about answering his phone. We had contacted some of his close friends only to find that they had not seen him either in a while and they were also looking for him. <\/p>\n
Well supposedly he was staying with a friend that we did not know. Mary found the guy on Facebook and had sent the guy messages but still we had no word. She did manage to get the guys address and my brother-in-law Timmy went to the address only to find that the guy had lost his home to a fire. Timmy also went to my brothers usual watering holes and no one had seen him. This is when we really began to worry. You see my brother had fallen on hard times and lost his place and his job or vise versa the point is he was basically homeless. To know my brother though is to know he does not believe in charity unless he is the one giving it. He is stubborn as a mule when it comes to helping him. He was raised were you were told you gave a good eight hours of work for a good eight hours of pay and he still holds this to be true. My brothers other problem is he likes the bottle and he has never hidden that fact. He has an immense heart and is always willing to help those in need, everyone that is except himself.<\/p>\n
So here it is where two months have now passed and we know this is way to long even for Jake. Mary finally got a call from the guy he was supposedly staying with and he told her that he had not seen my brother since the summertime. This is when we decided to file a missing persons report. Well my brother Allen had tried to do this but it was the day of the big snowstorm and the people who handled that had not been into work. Plan B with the help of the guys wife and my niece we ended up with a couple of good pictures to make up a poster that I had put on Facebook. Say what you want about social media at a time like this it really came in handy.<\/p>\n
I posted my brother’s picture and a description of him and contact information. Within seconds my post was being shared. In one hour we were already at 80 shares. At that point people were also posting well wishes and it turned out that a lot of them knew my brother or my family. There were people I had not heard from since my school days and a lot from people who I am friends with. I was just amazed. But it gets even better, after several hours we had over 300 people share my brothers missing poster. I had a meeting I had to attend that night so when I got home it was after 9 pm. By this time we had over 860 shares. With the shares came a lot more wishes that my brother was found safe. Honestly though by this time I was so worried because all those post and no one had seen him. I did not sleep well trying to keep my mind thinking positive instead of thinking the worst. <\/p>\n
Morning rolled in and I checked Facebook first thing. My sister than called me to ask if I could send the police the pictures I had of my brother and the missing poster. She had gone down to the station in Lawrenceville where she lives and filed the missing persons report. By this time we had well over 1000 people share the poster. I was busy answering all the persons who had commented on my brother and there was just so many. After another hour and a half passed by my sister called. My heart had literally dropped as I was sure the news was bad. As it turns out the news was good. The police had pinged my brother number and it led them to a parking lot in Wal-Mart in Tallahassee Florida. The police had talked to my brother and told him that his family was desperately hunting him. Jake ended up calling Mary and reassuring her he was fine. They both ended up crying and my brother has vowed to keep his family informed of his whereabouts. Now our goal is to get him to go back to NJ and get him back on his feet. As I said before he is stubborn and wants to do things on his own but he forgets we are just as stubborn and we will help him because we are a very close family and we love him to death. We want to kick him in the ass for what he has put everyone through but we still love him.<\/p>\n
Now what does this have to do with paying it forward you ask? Well I was so touched and overwhelmed by the outpouring for my brother that I have literally began to think of all those people who took some time out of their day to do me a favor. We are talking over 1000 people in the span of 24 hours who have cared and shared with me. I am so touched and I just cannot thank these people enough. There are still a lot of very caring, loving people out there. You see they paid it forward, They never asked for anything except that my brother be found alive and well. <\/p>\n
There is a lesson to be learned here and I have learned it. If everyone would just be kind to one person everyday we would learn to get rid of hate. We would learn to accept people for their differences and uniqueness. We would learn you don’t judge people. I vowed on Facebook to everyone that I would always pay it forward and I plan on keeping that vow. As I ended it on my Facebook post Karma is a kindness that comes back to you in many great ways. I wish to thank all those who helped spread the word. You will always have a place in my heart. Thank You.<\/p>\n
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