How can one possibly 'pay back' ALL of the wonderful people (teachers, mentors, et al)

that have contributed to your (one's life).

I don't have much $$$ or worldly success, but I'm extremely grateful and beholden to many people.

How can I express/convey my gratitude?

(and will they consider it a 'compliment' even though I've not become a 'worldly success'....in fact, perhaps a "FAIL" b/c I don't have the $$$ to grant a scholarship for someone, etc...)

Inspire or help someone else, in any way you can.

and give what you can share to others.

or try.

I think that when you can't pay it back, you pay it forward. You live your life in such a way that those who've fostered the person you are today would be proud.

I feel the same way as you. I could never in a thousand years make up for all the good things impressed upon me by those who saw something in me I didn't see in myself.

I taught Adult Vocational Education for 10 years, and during that time encountered MANY people who, because of being unemployed, on disability or whatever, couldn't afford the textbooks required in the classes my school offered. During that time, I snuck into the book room, and "stole" hundreds if not thousands of books, and passed them on to students that needed them. It just seemed like the right thing to do. They needed the books, and we had them. My school even marked the price up so as to make a profit. I hated that.

I fell into teaching quite by accident and never thought I was better than any of my students in any way. My book theft caused total havoc at inventory time, and was the cause of dozens of schemes devised by my administrators to account for the books. It didn't stop me. It was the only way I had, other than tutoring (which I did a lot of) that I could give something back and feel good about the way fortune smiled on me during a time of need. I went to the very school I taught at in order to learn a new trade after an industrial accident, and wound up being invited to join the staff as an Instructional Aide, then later as a teacher.

I'd say find some way of paying your gratitude to those you encounter every day rather than trying to show appreciation to those who got you to where you are now. I'm sure they'd be proud of themselves for helping you, knowing that you were helping someone else.

:-)

I 'know' what you're describing.

I'd be extremely complimented if I was told that something I'd done or words I'd said put someone a little farther down that road.