There is no way to escape grim news. Open the newspapers, switch on the TV or surf the net and you come face to face with this lost world. But if you search hard enough, you can find many uplifting stories that help to restore our faith in good people. I collect those stories just like I collect books. They come in handy for those difficult days when it seems like there is only bad news in this world.
These stories provide a much needed balance in today's chaotic world, and they keep me from becoming cynical.Here are four amazing stories that touched me in the last year. These people have gone beyond the call of duty. I hope these stories help you through the day and the week, and many, many weeks to come.
1. The US marines are famous for their toughness. Apparently they have a soft side too. When the marines heard the story of a dying boy named Cody Green's love for the marines, they found a way to honour him. They made Cody an honorary marine because Cody had spent his entire young life bravely battling leukemia.
When Cody's battle turned towards the worst, the marines posted a guard outside of his door. The guard stayed throughout the night that Cody died.
www.hlntv.com/article/2012/05/01/cody-green-boy-leukemia-made-honorary-marine-after-death
2. Courtney Alvis from Alabama missed a year of school because of her chemotherapy for leukemia. She willed herself to live by setting a goal of going to her senior prom. When it came time to go to the prom, she didn't have a date. No boy asked her out. Her uncle contacted Trent Richardson, an American football player.
Richardson agreed to take Courtney to the Hueytown prom. He bought a white suit with a pink vest and wore a pink tie–both of which he tried to match with Courtney's pink, sleeveless dress. They wore pink because it is the colour of hope for cancer victims.
Richardson, who never had the opportunity to go to his own high school prom, said he escorted Courtney partly because his mother is battling cancer, and he was moved by Courtney's spirit to fight her disease. By the end of the night, Courtney was crowned the prom queen.
A few weeks later, the day of the 2012 National American Football draft, Richardson became the third player picked. Newspapers around the US wrote that part of the reason he went that high in the draft was because he showed extraordinary character. This is the video clip of Alvis and Richardson going to the prom.
http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/45972/video-trent-richardson-goes-to-prom
3. Last year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, an American football team that is struggling to rebuild, needed all the great teammates they could get. They didn't have a single position to waste. After the National Football League draft was over, they went out and signed a great, former Rutgers defensive tackle, Eric LeGrand. LeGrand's coach in university, Greg Schiano, was now the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach.
"Leading up to the draft, I couldn't help but think that this should've been Eric's draft class," Schiano said when he drafted LeGrand. "This small gesture is the least we could do to recognise his character, spirit, and perseverance. The way Eric lives his life epitomises what we are looking for in Buccaneer Men," an Internet story says at this site: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7881254/tampa-bay-buccaneers-sign-injured-rutgers-dt-eric-legrand-symbolic-gesture
In university, LeGrand was playing on special teams against Army on October 16, 2010 when he collided with another player. He ended up being paralysed from the neck down. Doctors said he would probably always need a ventilator to breathe. He got off the ventilator five weeks after his accident. He is now able to stand briefly, and he vows to walk some day.
LeGrand has gone back to university to study. He will be graduating this year with a degree in labour studies and he has signed with IMG to do broadcast journalism. Now he's on a professional football team, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, thanks to a coach who never forgot him and an organisation that understands a teammate is more than someone who can physically play the game.
I can't imagine dealing with the bitter blows that life has given this young man, but he says, "I believe I will walk again. I do. When that happens, I already know what I'm going to do. I'll go to Giants Stadium and find the exact spot in the field where I went down. I'll lie there for a second. And then I'll get up on my own power and walk away."Le Grand is often featured on Subway sandwich commercials on TV along with other famous US athletes.
4. Every terrorist act makes us question the meaning of life and the inhumanity of such a heinous act. Business Insider posted these "13 Examples of People Being Awesome after the Attack on the Boston Marathon." There are moving pictures of heroic acts, tweets offering people places to stay and help to those stranded at the Boston Marathon. This moving, visual salute to heroism can be found at: www.businessinsider.com/inspiring-images-from-boston-2013-4
Surround yourself with some uplifting stories today. Believe me, they help get you through the bad news of the day.
