Ton dropped a lovely gift into my comment box for my blog anniversary, all wrapped up nicely in bright ribbons : 

"Happy Bloggiversary! To help celebrate I would like to give you a gift, and this being the blogosphere, I'll make it a gift of conversation.  I give you the right to invite me into a coversation, somewhere on the web. A conversation you are aware of, but not I. Or one of your own posts I never commented on, but you would like me to. Just see for yourself, give me the pointer, and I'll go there and add to the conversation. Just a small token of appreciation, to thank you for adding your voice to the multitude, for your insights, ideas, questions and comments. Thanks Dina, keep on blogging!"

I was delighted, and immediately shared it with my husband - telling him how wonderful people are - and how much joy a simple act of giving can bring.  And greedy me, i sent Ton two links instead of one, to comment on.  And he did, sparking off more conversations, a related blog post and opening my mind to different views on the topic of Virtual Presence. 

What i particularly like about his gift to me is the unconditional nature of the gift - this is rare in today's world.  No obligations, no expectations of anything in return - just a simple token of appreciation.  Thanks Ton - am touched.  

In subsequent exchanges, Ton made a request to 'pay it forward' - i'm more than happy to do this : 

"If you enjoyed my gift to 'pay it forward', to pass along the gift as it were. And I think I will surprise someone else with another of these gifts every two or three weeks or so.  Wouldn't that be an interesting experiment?"

And when i read Flemming's recent post on Pay it forward - i was reminded about the movie, which i too feel was fabulous. From Flemming's post :

"In brief, the idea is that you pay "forward" (as opposed to paying "back") spontaneous acts of kindness you've received. I.e. instead of doing something in return for somebody who did something unexpected and helpful for you, you will do the same for a stranger you run into later. Like random acts of kindness..........."

Wonderful thoughts ... wonderful potential for changing the world !

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