What moments in your life have restored your faith in humanity?

Listen up you cock socks, Bangles is creating a thread here. And he's a bit rusty, so bear with it, cause it's about to blow your mind with tears. ...that is pretty much the exact opposite of how I should have opened this thread.

So yes, I just got done reading the thread on Cracked about kindness and shit (located here)

And it had me thinking, we're all international and shit, so we have to have super cool stories and whatnot.

So, this is me stealing David Wong's idea and seeing what WBW has to tell.

The purpose of this thread is to share stories that have touched us emotionally or reaffirmed (or created) our belief in humanity.

I'll start, but forgive me, because I have trouble remembering things now for certain reasons. I've got two stories that touched me.

The first one happened several years ago. I'm not a big fan of holidays or social gatherings. I just don't see a purpose to celebrate bullshit, and social gatherings are just an excuse for people to fight. Also, I have a general distaste for "poor" since I grew up less than middle-class, and I try very hard to forget that. (Honesty time, bitches. This is a for serious thread.) And so I was completely displeased when I agreed to go celebrate Thanksgiving with my mom's friends. In a trailer park.
But, we all showed up, and everyone brought what they could bring, and the kids gathered together and played, and the adults sat around and talked. None of the tables matched, and I think there might have been some paper plates and such, and I sat with the kid's at their table. The turkey was over cooked, the stuffing was bad, there was literally nothing about the food that was ...enjoyable. I mean, it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't like someone who knows what a Michelin Star is cooked anything.
But it's my most cherished holiday moment, simply because it was people gathering together and sharing what they had to give with everyone who was around. There was no bickering or hidden alliances as is the standard for every other gathering ever. No judgements about whatever happened since last they met. I just really loved how everyone came together and just... shared in the moment and celebrated freely. It sounds lame, and I'm not explaining it as well as I would have liked, but I just loved the genuineness of the evening. It was wonderful seeing people exist and act without pretense or guile or whatever. (I obviously have terrible holidays with my family )

My second story is from when I was in Afghanistan.
We were out on patrol in some village in wherever Afghanistan, and we stopped so that our leadership could have a talk with the village elders about building a well at this particular location (or something.) And so I was set up to provide security down this alleyway. And the Afghan kids were swarming us, wanting any candy or pens or anything we had that they thought we could give them. Like they do. And I'm a softie, so I always tried to carry candy in one of my pockets for the kids, and when I was a gunner in a truck I'd always have candy and sports drinks and water to throw to the kids, cause if they're waving at you or eating candy they're generally not shooting at you.
And so, there I was, M4 leveled, watching my alleyway when a little girl approached me from the front (right in front of my boomstick) and she smiled at me, and so I tossed her some candy. But the other kids stole it (it's a free-for-all whenever anything interesting is available.) And so I tossed her some more, and again it got stolen. And so I took the last candy I had, and called her to me, specifically, and handed it to her. She took some, and gave it to her brother, and then they left down where they'd come from. And then a few minutes later, she came walking back. And she smiled at me, and presented a pomegranate to me.

I know it sounds really stupid, but it meant so much to me. It's nice to know that innocence and childhood and happiness and whatever does exist, and that not every child there is waiting to shoot at you, or finds amusement in feeding puppies to hounds as you watch.

Hmm... So yes. What stories do you have? Anything in your life touch you or make you happy to be alive and to be a part of the human race? Someone who went out of their way to be nice? Or, avoided being a complete jerk that just made you undeniably happy?

David Wong wrote "John Dies at the End".

Now I'll read the rest of this thread.

Quote:

Originally posted by Honda_X

David Wong wrote "John Dies at the End".

Now I'll read the rest of this thread.

Knew that'd get you.

i was just a heartless wench before i had my son. now im just a wench.

Hrm.

I don't have much faith in humanity, it seems.

I genuinely can't think of one personal example.

Quote:

Originally posted by EricLindros

Hrm.

I don't have much faith in humanity, it seems.

I genuinely can't think of one personal example.

thats sad.

For me, it would be the charity PostPals (www.postpals.[blacklisted]) - such a simple idea and yet it makes such a difference to unwell children and their families.

I first saw this on the tv show 'Russell Howard's Good News' - he's a comedian who basically has a humorous look at the week but always finishes his show with a piece of good news. On one particular week he featured this charity and explained what it is they do.

Basically, loads of kids in the UK suffer from life-threatening/terminal diseases and illnesses, and they often spend the majority of their young lives in and out of hospital, undergoing chemo, operations etc. It's clearly a very upsetting time not only for the sick child, but their family.

The idea of PostPals is for complete strangers to send cards and/or small gifts (toys, books etc) to these sick children, in a secure way, to brighten up their days just a little bit. On the PostPals website there is a list of the children who are currently ill, what their story is, information about their particular illness and it is constantly updated. If a particular story touches you, you can send that child a card or gift in the hope that this selfless act may make a difference, no matter how small.

A lot of these children die. They are too small to deal with the illness, and they have to fight these extremely aggressive cancers every day of their short lives. So the idea is that for those moments when they are not being poked and prodded, or when they're unconscious on an operating table, that they have new cards or toys to let them know that people are thinking of them and so they can maybe smile every now and then. It must be really difficult for the parents of these children, so to see their kids smile at the amount of presents they get can only be a fantastic feeling. You can also send gifts to the siblings of the patients as they often get pushed to the side and 'forgotten' while their brother/sister's illness is in the spotlight.

As I mentioned, a lot of these children die, but the parents who use PostPals often write letters to the site afterwards explaining what an amazing difference it made to their child and how much it helped the fight in general.

I suppose this restores my faith in humanity knowing that there are people out there who not only create these types of charity, but also the thousands of people who send things every year.

If I've not explained this properly, I apologise. Perhaps watching the original programme that I saw would help - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQThr40_YkI

Gonna try this again this morning, but with an abbreviated version from what I tried to post yesterday.

Last Friday I was at the burial of a 33 year old woman that was my fiance's best friend since 2nd grade, she left behind 5 children, the youngest being her 10 year old daughter.

Well this little girl made it her mission to go around and make sure everyone there was getting a hug and wasn't crying because "mommy didn't want anyone to cry" it was one of the sweetest acts I have ever seen

This is a good idea for a thread.

I try to see goodness in everything I do in life and have done for the past year or so, since I've done that I've noticed many wonderful things.

To cut a long story short this time last year I cam very close to dying which resulted in me having to have 4 months off work to rehabilitate. That's what changed my attitude that I described above. This led to me about 5 weeks ago deciding I needed to quite my job which was in a different part of the Europe as it was sucking up to much of my life and move back to the UK to find something a little less stressful and to be near my family.

The example I want to provide is that even though I had the 4 months off work last year on full pay and then random times this year due to my after care my employers went out of their way to help me. They paid me my notice period without me having to work it. Paid for my belongings to be shipped back to the UK, paid for my travel back to the UK and because they knew how close I was to my dog, they paid for his shots and passport and travel back as well.

The cherry on the cake I thought was the CEO of the company, which is a multinational company that is a household name in most parts of the world, emailing me and giving me his personal email address and telling me I could use him as a personal reference for any future job I intend to apply for.

Those acts really touched me simply because by supporting me last year they was only doing what was legally required of them but what they did when I told them I wanted to quit was above any beyond, they could of just accepted my resignation and made me work my notice.

I know it's not world changing but it changed my world.

@ oghash, now that's something you don't see happen very often, kudos to him

Quote:

Originally posted by DEMO

Gonna try this again this morning, but with an abbreviated version from what I tried to post yesterday.

Last Friday I was at the burial of a 33 year old woman that was my fiance's best friend since 2nd grade, she left behind 5 children, the youngest being her 10 year old daughter.

Well this little girl made it her mission to go around and make sure everyone there was getting a hug and wasn't crying because "mommy didn't want anyone to cry" it was one of the sweetest acts I have ever seen

That's a good story
I love children, because they do things like that. I hate seeing kids loose their ...innocence or whatever it is.

Quote:

Originally posted by 0ghash

This is a good idea for a thread.

I try to see goodness in everything I do in life and have done for the past year or so, since I've done that I've noticed many wonderful things.

To cut a long story short this time last year I cam very close to dying which resulted in me having to have 4 months off work to rehabilitate. That's what changed my attitude that I described above. This led to me about 5 weeks ago deciding I needed to quite my job which was in a different part of the Europe as it was sucking up to much of my life and move back to the UK to find something a little less stressful and to be near my family.

The example I want to provide is that even though I had the 4 months off work last year on full pay and then random times this year due to my after care my employers went out of their way to help me. They paid me my notice period without me having to work it. Paid for my belongings to be shipped back to the UK, paid for my travel back to the UK and because they knew how close I was to my dog, they paid for his shots and passport and travel back as well.

The cherry on the cake I thought was the CEO of the company, which is a multinational company that is a household name in most parts of the world, emailing me and giving me his personal email address and telling me I could use him as a personal reference for any future job I intend to apply for.

Those acts really touched me simply because by supporting me last year they was only doing what was legally required of them but what they did when I told them I wanted to quit was above any beyond, they could of just accepted my resignation and made me work my notice.

I know it's not world changing but it changed my world.

That's awesome. The near death thing, not so much. But the kindness and compassion they had. That's crazy, because you have to think that it wasn't just one person being nice, there had to be layers of people all not being complete dicks to make that happen.

Quote:

Originally posted by Bangledesh

...

That's a good story
I love children, because they do things like that. I hate seeing kids loose their ...innocence or whatever it is.

There's a lot more to the story, but that's the gist of it.

This family, which I had only met about 3ish months ago, has taken up a huge amount of my families time over the past few months, and sometimes it was very stressful on the relationship between myself and my fiance, but that one moment let me know it was worth every minute...

Bangles....what a guy you are for starting this thread ! Thanks.

Those moments....yes. Mine seem to be a little bit different in that I have made it a habit to take some time every month and spend it on checking my gratitude list.... a list that grows longer every year when I add up what I have been given in opportunities and experiences from the world and the ones that I love.

Gratitude....don't leave home without it.

Quote:

Originally posted by F1098

Bangles....what a guy you are for starting this thread ! Thanks.

Happy to oblige.

No one has any other moments, really?

Has life become that sad, and have people become that jaded

Quote:

Originally posted by DEMO

No one has any other moments, really?

Has life become that sad, and have people become that jaded

I don't think so dude, just I'm guessing that most people come to this site with a semi on with one thing on their mind so ignore topics like this.

Hmm...
Maybe you shouldn't call people 'cock socks' in a thread that requires opening up personally.



*contemplating turning it into a sort of semi-free contest. Post a story, earn some credits. lol*

I have a little cousin over in Ireland called Myia. She's 8 and has a spinal condition, that I forget the name of, which means she has to walk with a walking frame.. I've known her parents have been trying to raise money for a certain operation, that will basically let her walk and run unaided, for a while, and are about halfway to their goal, after fundraising for a couple of years. They will raise the money eventually, it's just a matter of time.

They have a lot of support in their local area, however one thing that touched me happened in January.

I was in Ireland at the wedding of Myia's parents. They'd been together 10 years, had 5 kids and decided to get married. However they'd forgoed all the usual luxuries you'd associate with a wedding, they didn't even hire a photographer ( they didn't need to after all because it's one of my sidelines, and was happy to do it for free). They had their honeymoon, literally, in their back garden, and asked any family and freinds to not buy gifts, but to make a donation to Myia's fund.

It turned out that Myia's 3 older sisters had decided, amongst themselves, not to get any Christmas presents that year either, and to put all the money into the fund. It was this simple gesture, that literally brought a tear to my eye. I couldn't believe the generosity, and humbleness of these 3 girls aged 11-9. I think their parents may of bought them something, however I thought it very poignant.

One of my favourite pictures I took on that day is little Myia, walking down the aisle with her walking frame made up with flowers n such, and her mom following behind.

Kids are amazing at times

Quote:

Originally posted by Paddy!

It turned out that Myia's 3 older sisters had decided, amongst themselves, not to get any Christmas presents that year either, and to put all the money into the fund. It was this simple gesture, that literally brought a tear to my eye. I couldn't believe the generosity, and humbleness of these 3 girls aged 11-9. I think their parents may of bought them something, however I thought it very poignant.

One of my favourite pictures I took on that day is little Myia, walking down the aisle with her walking frame made up with flowers n such, and her mom following behind.

Kids are amazing at times

Thanks for the story. It is so incredible that they did that.
And yeah, kids most certainly are.