Today is pretty cool…let me tell you why.

Reason One: Many of you may have seen the movie or read the book “Pay It Forward”, a story about a young boy who did three good deeds for others in need. In return, all the kid wanted was for them to pass on the good deed to three other people and keep the cycle going.

Well, today is Pay It Forward Day! While one good deed might not seem like much, if everyone did something good for someone else, then the cycle of generosity and kindness can spark us to become better people. This is easy to do at the Red Cross, where you can give blood, volunteer, learn life-saving skills and even respond to an emergency.

Reason Two: Today is also World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day is all about raising awareness to tackle HIV prejudice and help stop the spread of HIV. The Red Cross is a huge partner in the fight to control and educate on AIDS.

The Public Health Education Division of the Red Cross educates people on how to stop the transmission of HIV, encourages people to respond in informed ways to people who have HIV, and helps people apply the facts about HIV to their own behavior.

Additionally, The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have come together to combat HIV through a global alliance, with the resolve to do much more and much better in our collective endeavor against this epidemic. This commitment to scale-up is linked to specific and measurable targets to double, by 2010, the magnitude of our quality HIV programming in prevention, treatment, care and support, and in tackling stigma and discrimination.

Between “paying it forward” and supporting a global effort to reduce mortality from HIV, I think today is definitely worth celebrating.

Graphic courtesy of successinhr.com