Every time we try to catch up on the news, negative stories constantly seem to dominate the headlines. There’s a reason why we say some things “restore our faith in humanity” – it’s because we rarely get exposed to the wealth of good things happening around us everyday.
That’s why every week, we bring you a roundup of some of the biggest news stories about good things that happened around the world to help brighten your day. Here are nine positive things that happened last week that you should know about (in no particular order):
1. This man risks his life to bring joy to kids of Aleppo
This man risks his life to bring joy to Syrian kids. They call him the toy smuggler of Aleppo. pic.twitter.com/f68bU8P9fZ
— AJ+ (@ajplus) September 26, 2016
Rami Adham is risking his life to bring joy to the children of Aleppo, Syria. Known as the “toy smuggler of Aleppo”, the Finnish-Syrian father of six has made 28 trips to Syria from Helsinki in the past four years in order to give children in the war-torn country toys. “These little heroes that represent Syria’s future are to me extremely valuable to preserve, to give them a moment out of the fear and instability,” he told BBC news.
- Read more on BBC
2. Dad gives daughter inspiring motivational speech
A video of a man named Ron Alston giving his three-year-old daughter Aliya a motivational speech is as cute as it is inspirational. Alston posted the clip online and it has since been shared thousands of times.
- Read more on Daily Hive
3. Man saves shark’s life
This man saw tourists mistreating a whale shark and decided to take action. He bought the animal for $75 so he could set it free, back into the ocean where it belongs.
4. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan pledge $3 billion to cure ‘all disease’
Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Pricilla Chan pledged to donate over $3 billion towards a plan to “cure, prevent or manage all disease within our children’s lifetime.”
The couple will invest in a bioscience research centre, called the Biohub, and technology to create a mechanical chip that will diagnose diseases.
- Read more on TIME
5. Puppies join bridal party for photo shoot
This is the cutest bridal party ever. Newlyweds Sarah and Matt McCrain from Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, invited a litter of eight-week-old rescue puppies to their wedding. The puppies were from Pitties.Love.Peace, a non-profit organization committed to rescue and rehabilitation. Their entire wedding party took adorable wedding pictures with the puppies and the dogs definitely stole the show.
- Read more on The Telegraph
6. Boy who once snuck into neighbour’s yard to pet a dog now has his own
A few months ago, Josh Breaux from Lousiana made headlines when he was repeatedly caught sneaking into his neighbour, Hollie Mallet’s, yard. The footage revealed that Breaux was not trying to steal anything, but only trying to pet Mallet’s dog. The footage went viral and it turns out that Josh loved Mallet’s dog so much because he missed his own dog, Bella, who passed away last year. Now, Josh no longer has to pet his neighbour’s dog because his mom came around to getting him a Labrador puppy named Drake and the two are inseparable.
- Read more on MailOnline
7. Officer drives grieving man 160 km to be with family
Mark Ross of Ohio was devastated when he found out that his sister was killed in a car crash over the weekend. He wanted to be with his mother as soon as possible. A friend offered to drive Ross to his mom in Detroit. The driver was rushing to get there and the two men ended up being pulled over for speeding.
At that moment, Ross’ stomach sunk because he had a warrant out for his arrest. Trooper J. Davis approached the vehicle and took the driver into custody. Ross was left stranded and burst into tears explaining he needed to get to his mom in Detroit. What happened next changed everything. Davis reached over to pray with Ross and offered to drive him to Detroit. “I am truly Greatful (sic) for this Guy. He gave me hope,” Ross wrote in a Facebook post.
- Read more on Inside Edition
8. Officer saves man from oncoming train
Officer risks life to rescue man from oncoming train: https://t.co/8OewtXWoaV via @miguelmarquez https://t.co/02pb8UAmsp
— New Day (@NewDay) September 25, 2016
Victor Ortiz is a 16-year-veteran with the New Jersey Transit Police. He was working an overnight shift and was getting ready to clock out. But things took a drastic turn when an announcement was made that a suicidal man was clinging to the tracks, refusing to move as a train was coming towards him
That is when Ortiz sprang into action. “I looked up and saw the train coming from almost a half mile away,” Ortiz said. “I saw lights coming at that point I knew that this was it” He managed to push the 300-pound man off the tracks and saved his life.
“Every life to me matters,” said Ortiz. “He put himself in harm’s way, and my job is to protect and serve,” Ortiz told CNN.
- Read more on CNN
9. Ducklings rescued by airforce
Feel good story of the week! Ducklings rescued by firefighters in New Zealand > https://t.co/lW3qS7s8IT pic.twitter.com/lbvw9GD0gr
— WWT (@WWTworldwide) May 24, 2016
These ducklings were stuck in a drain on the runway of the Ohakea Air Force in New Zealand. Luckily, Air Force officials were close by to rescue the little guys. The Air Force crew dropped the ducks off at a nearby creek and set them free.
- Read more on Suff NZ
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