One story from my hometown comes to mind:
A dairy farm had about 60-head of milking cows (Guernseys, Jerseys, and Holsteins), plus several horses and a flock of sheep with baby lambs.
Everyone loved it because of the summer farm stand where people bought all manner of fresh fruit and vegetables, apple cider in the fall and pumpkins. (Kids enjoyed the petting the lambs.)
Then, one night, there was a major fire in the barn that started in the hayloft overhead. Volunteer firemen rushed to the scene along with neighbors and rescued the majority of animals before the structure burned to the ground.
The community helped the farming family rebuild and took care of the animals the best possible during the process. Today, the farm is thriving and many of the cows, horses, and sheep are direct descendants of those that survived that horrific fire.
I was out doing a couple errands for my job and I had to stop at the gas station for some propane. A guy walked up to me and asked,”Excuse me, but do you know where I could get some beer?” I’m normally the guy who would not respond and just shy the other way, but I was the only one not physically busy. I told him the closest store and then the cafe. He thanked me and left with a small smile. That smile from a stranger, it really does make your day. It might not be heartwarming, but I felt ten foot tall.
So, if a guy ever asks where to get a nice cold one, and you tell him, you might make a friend or just receive a smile. Both are good.
My ex had a parakeet that was super rambuxious, and was very interactive/vocal.
Whenever anything would happen with the bird, like it slipping off of whatever it was climbing on or it running into an object my ex would ask the bird ‘oh no! are you ok?’
One day my girlfriend sneezed, and the parakeet looked at her and asked my ex “Are you ok?”
Adorable.
I have a teacher that has sponsored many of his students through high school, college and university- many of them were orphans with no one to go to or from impoverished backgrounds.
He is very famous in our region and earns a lot both from his job and extra tuition classes he teaches. People from all over the region come to his classes.
But he’s never let that get to his head. He’s earned respect by reminding his students to stay grounded and be kind to other people- family, friends and strangers alike. He was the first teacher to tell me it’s okay to take a break when I’m overworked and told us that it’s okay if we don’t get to the university we want- as long as our aims are to be good members of society it doesn’t matter where we go.
And he never boasts about the stuff he’s done.
He’s the reason that even though I don’t have much money, I’ve started giving bits of pocket money away to poor people or buying useful gifts for other members of my family. It’s one of the few things I do nowadays that makes me feel whole again. Like I’m not a waste of space.
I just hope someone out there reads this and realizes that there are good people hidden in rotten environments and they want to stay hidden because they feel better about their good deeds that way. Don’t lose hope for humanity. Do your best to contribute to good.
In a family of traditional marriage and a community that believes that love marriage won’t last long, my cousin got married to someone she loves despite parents of both side disapproval, pranked her now husband on their first date and wedding day, supported and built a business for her husband’s siblings, got severely sick that she had to go to Germany for treatement and recently came back along with her husband to her 5 kids who were raised by both the families all better now. Recently is their 11th anniversary together.