Paying it Forward

I'm sure many of you have heard this line before, "Pay it forward" I know I have on many occasions and usually associated with money.
Well, the thought occurred to me, "does 'paying it forward' only refer to if you pay for something?
In this girls opinion, I say NO...the act of  'paying it forward' means so much more. Paying it forward is any act of kindness passed on to another person.
People pay it forward every day, every minute. Any act of kindness is paying it forward, no matter how small a thing you think it might be, to the person who is receiving it, it isn't a small thing at all. Sometimes, you don't even realize you have done it until someone points it out. You are just being you when it's done.
I strive to be kind to everyone I come in contact with. I don't always achieve it, but I always try. The simplest of ways to pay it forward is to smile at a passing stranger. When you smile, you are showing that person you see them and they matter. You never know what someone else needs or is going through, but just showing them someone sees them, is sometimes the one thing which helps them make it through one more minute of their day.
So if you have always thought, "Paying it Forward" only meant paying for someone's meal in the line behind you or something larger. Now you can see, there is so much more to the phrase 'paying it forward'.