A news brief in Saturday�s paper caught my attention with this intriguing headline: "Mysterious bill payers follow movie�s lead." The movie referred to is called Pay It Forward, the latest film out for Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment. It came out in October but didn�t know anything about it, so I hopped on the Internet to find out more.

You�ve probably heard about random acts of kindness, the idea inspired by author Anne Herbert ("Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty."). This movie takes that concept and, quite literally, increases its power exponentially. Given the assignment to "think of an idea for world change, and put it into action," a 12-year-old boy comes up with what he calls the Pay It Forward game. He figures out on his calculator that if one person does something good for three other people, each of whom do something good for three more people, and this continues, the number of people helped quickly multiplies into the thousands and millions. The only rules are that the good deed must be something that really helps people and something they can�t do by themselves.

There�s a lot more to the movie than just this plan, and some reviews I read criticize the plot twists as being too manipulative and the cast as gunning shamelessly for award nominations. Whatever the critics say, the ultimate thumbs-up review is from the two people in Buffalo who took an idea from the silver screen and applied it to real life.

According to the full story in the Nov. 24 Buffalo News, Melissa Fortin recently wrote a check for her car lease, sealed it in an envelope and tucked it in her purse, intending to mail it when she had stamps. It was a two-month bill with only one month�s payment.

An anonymous couple found the envelope in a store parking lot, the day after they saw Pay It Forward. It didn�t have a return address. Rather than just put a stamp on it, which would have been a nice enough thing to do, they opened it to find out the identity of the sender. When they saw the partial payment, they decided to pay the balance of $269.02. They did call Fortin to let her know they had stamped and mailed the bill, but several days later she received a letter detailing the rest of the story. No address, no phone number, no way to thank or repay them. Nothing to do but follow their lead and pay the debt forward.

I wonder what she�ll do. And I wonder if the kindnesses she offers will be passed along. While I believe that people have good hearts, it�s more difficult than it should be to turn ideas into actions. Modern life has us going so fast we don�t see the little opportunities for charity and compassion until it�s too late. It�s like zooming along with traffic on the Autobahn and not being able to stop at an accident scene without causing an accident in the process.

Reading this story made me think about the things I�ve done, and wished I�d done, for other people.

A few months ago I gave a stranger a ride after his vehicle broke down on the side of Pitcher Road in Queensbury. He wasn�t asking for a ride. He just seemed to need a helping hand. As I passed by I saw him check under the hood. When I turned around and drove by again, he�d gotten inside and seemed to be pondering what to do next. It was a nice day, I didn�t have anywhere to be, so I rolled down my window and asked if there was anything I could do. After I dropped him off that little voice in the back of my head said, "Good job."

Yet just this weekend I passed by two people walking in the rain along Aviation Road near the mall carrying garbage bags full of empty cans and bottles. I rationalized that my station wagon was already full with a Christmas tree and some packages and kept my foot on the accelerator. As I drove away that little voice said, "You blew it."

I guess we can�t let our missed opportunities discourage us. Every good effort is worthwhile. After all, it takes billions of raindrops to reverse the ill effects of a drought. It might just be possible for three good deeds�paid forward times three�could be enough to turn the tide.