Saturday, September 17, 2022 |
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You know I love a good poem. And this week, I thought a lot about one of my favorites, "Small Kindnesses" by Danusha Laméris. It's the kind of poem that revives you, that reminds you every moment is an opportunity to create something good.
I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,
have my seat,” “Go ahead — you first,” “I like your hat.”
-- Danusha Laméris, 2019
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Our favorites this week
Get going with some of our most popular good news stories of the week
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A wholesome hole-in-one
Twenty-four hours, 116.5 rounds, 14,664 strokes, and almost 20 miles of walking: that's what it took for a foursome of putt-putt gold regulars to set a new Guinness World Record for a good cause. Father-son duo Chris and Cole Hetzel, Tony Centers, and Bob Schoettinger powered through 2,097 holes on their beloved 18-hole local putt-putt course in northern Kentucky to set the record for the most holes of miniature golf in 24 hours by a foursome. The friends are big into niche sports (you'd have to be, to attempt such a feat) and got the idea to turn the record attempt into a fundraiser for people affected by devastating flooding that hit Kentucky in August. Kevin Shea, the owner of the course, went all out to make the attempt a community event, complete with food trucks and a DJ. When every putt was putted, the team raised about $3,000 in relief -- and inspired even more giving from amazed onlookers.
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The gift of reading
When high school English teacher and CNN Hero Larry Abrams began teaching in the under-resourced community of Lindenwold, New Jersey, he was surprised to see how many of his students struggled with reading, or didn't have access to a lot of books. In 2017, when one of his high school seniors told him she wasn't reading to her 2-year-old daughter, Abrams knew he had to do something. He put out a call to friends and family asking for gently used children's books, and in no time, he had more than 1,000 of them. He began distributing the books to young moms and local elementary schools. Eventually, his efforts became a nonprofit, BookSmiles. His organization has since collected, sorted, and distributed hundreds of thousands of books throughout New Jersey and the Philadelphia area -- and will soon reach 1 million. "There are millions of kids in America who've never owned a book in their lives," Abrams says. "I want to change that."
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They're unstoppable
Meet two women that are bona-fide fitnss heroes. Tamara Walcott (above) was struggling with food addiction and obesity after a difficult divorce when she first found herself in a powerlifting gym in 2017. It was, well, love at first squat. Something about the sport spoke to her spirit, and despite the difficulties of finding success in a male-dominated sport, she powered (excuse the pun) through. Walcott is now a record-breaking strongwoman, and shares her powerlifting journey at gyms across the US. "I'm challenging myself to be better every single day ," she says. "I think I love that aspect of it."
Cycling activist Marley Blonsky also started her life-changing journey in the darkest of times. Heartbroken and reeling from a divorce, Blonsky decided to take up cycling. She is now the co-founder of All Bodies on Bikes and a trailblazer of the body-size inclusion movement within the cycling world. Blonsky works with the cycling industry to design activewear that fits larger bodies, create inclusive biking groups around the country and inspire people of all sizes to get out there and ride.
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Mykel Gordon, a Chick-Fil-A employee in Fort Walton Beach, Florida who saved a woman and a baby from being carjacked. The woman was getting the child out of her vehicle outside the restaurant when a man wielding a stick approached and demanded her keys, police said. The man then snatched the woman's keys from her and got in the car. Hearing her shouts for help, Gordon rushed to intervene. Gordon was struck during the altercation, but his actions gave other people time to approach and help him subdue the suspect, who was later arrested. The local police department praised Gordon for his courage, and the operator of the Chick-fil-A branch thanked him for his "incredible act of care."
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Don't you hate it when you're doing research in the jungle and you can't reach your $50,000 microscope? Stanford University bioengineer Manu Prakash ran into this oh-so-common problem about a decade ago, and it occurred to him that field work and extremely delicate, expensive, unwieldy equipment just don't mix. He had the outlandish idea to create a $1 microscope that could be easy to transport, easy to buy and easy to use. After plenty of testing, Prakash and his colleague Jim Cybulski came up with the Foldscope -- a flat-packed microscope made from paper and a single ball lens. It costs about $1.75 to make, and is powerful enough to see a malaria parasite in a cell. The instruments have been deployed across the world in a dizzying array of applications. Last year in India, the Foldscope was used to identify a new type of cyanobacteria. The microscope has also helped to identify fake drugs, Prakash said.
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British people are well-known for their superior queueing abilities, and they are putting their talents on full display to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II. Thousands upon thousands of mourners are queueing in a line that stretches past landmarks such as the London Eye, the Royal Festival Hall and the Globe theater. Plans are in place for it to be as long as nine miles. The line has become a destination of its own, known fondly by waiters as, simply, The Queue. People are bonding over the experience, and taking advantage of amenities that have cropped up along the route. Some British leaders have stopped by to thank The Queue, and one participant said they had a "little bit of banter" with the Archbishop of Canterbury about grapes. Even football legend David Beckham was spotted in The Queue! Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster, where the Queen is lying in state, will remain open 24 hours a day until early on Monday morning. By the time the wait is over, The Queue could be the longest in British history.
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When my love of tennis started, I was a ball kid in my hometown of Basel. I used to watch the players with a sense of wonder. They were like giants to me and I began to dream. My dreams led me to work harder and I started to believe in myself ... So, I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart, to everyone around the world who has helped make the dreams of a young Swiss ball kid come true.
- tennis great Roger Federer, who recently announced his retirement from the sport and expressed gratitude for his fans, family and fellow athletes. |
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Rec of the week
Brought to you by CNN Underscored
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Shameless animal video
There's always time for cute animal videos. That time is now.
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Remember in the early days of the pandemic when zoos and aquariums were taking their animals around and introducing them to each other? Let's revisit one of those eye-opening moments with Nacho the penguin from the Oregon Zoo. (Click here to view) |
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A newsletter for the good in life |
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