There’s so much sadness in the world right now. In times like these I like to binge-watch videos of people spreading love to one another. It’s wholesome, and some of them are also interesting and educational. I thought I would share several of my favorite videos for anyone else who might like them. I provide a link, and a video summary in the caption for those who don’t want to click on it.
VIDEO SUMMARY:
Herbie the cat was days away from being euthanized, when he was fostered by a single mom with a young daughter. One night, Herbie jumped on the mom’s bed, jumped off of it, and then growled at the door. The mom decided to follow Herbie on a hunch.
Herbie led her into her infant daughter’s bedroom, and jumped in her crib. The baby was being smothered by her blanket. The mom was able to intervene, and the baby was fine. She adopted Herbie after that.
Jackson Galaxy comes to visit Herbie, and learns that Herbie struggles with the litter box. Jackson suspects that the pellet litter is hurting his sensitive paws. Herbie gets the scritches, and his human presumably buys a brand of litter that was better for his paws.
Happy ending!
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Link: https://youtu.be/F9NqaZPxydw
VIDEO SUMMARY:
A long-time couple is getting married at a courthouse. One of their dearest friends “objects” to the wedding. She brings in Travis, the man who received a heart transplant from Colton, who was the couples’ 11 year old son that passed away seven years prior. Travis brought a stethoscope, and the couple got to listen to Colton’s heart one more time. It was beautiful.
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Link: https://youtu.be/c1n5U0cGZSA
VIDEO SUMMARY:
A family comes across a shivering and abandoned kitten. They wrapped the kitten up, and took her to a local vet to be checked out. The vet gave her a clean bill of health, and the family took the kitten home.
On the first night, the kitten began making an extremely odd “REE!” Noise. The father was baffled, and did some research. He realized that their house cat kitten was actually a bobcat kitten!
They called the local wildcat shelter, and the kitten will stay there until she is old enough to be released into the wild.
This was both hilarious and encouraging. Their bobcat kitten might be cute, but bobcats need to be in the wild. They respected that, and did the right thing.
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Link: https://youtu.be/91hDLKWlBZY
VIDEO SUMMARY:
A man works in a courthouse with his girlfriend. He gets the judge to “summon him in court.” The judge states the charges, which involve falling in love with the girlfriend. He asked how he wanted to pay restitution to the victim, which involved an engagement ring. Cutest thing ever.
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Link: https://youtu.be/8EIWUA9yF7Q
VIDEO SUMMARY:
A 28 year old Jessie had an absent mother. Fortunately, she had a mother figure in her stepmom, Carla. Carla loved her so much that she stayed in her life even after divorcing her father.
As a surprise gift, Carla takes her emotionally-adopted daughter to the courthouse to LEGALLY adopt her as an adult. Many happy tears were shed.
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Link: https://youtu.be/ATCdZ5EcW4Y
VIDEO SUMMARY:
A father takes his baby to the doctor for his first shots, but he is scared of needles as. Every time the baby cries, the father makes a dramatic consolation of how the nurses did him wrong. Cute as hell.
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Link: https://youtu.be/lqAUMsqiFxI
VIDEO SUMMARY:
Joe is a traumatized veteran with two Purple Hearts, and he’d developed a drinking problem to cope. He was arrested for drunk driving, and put on probation. Then he relapsed and lied about his positive alcohol test.
The judge was forced to sentence him to a day in jail. One of Joe’s traumas involves a crippling fear of enclosed spaces. The judge decides to spend the night in jail with him to be another human with him.
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Link: https://youtu.be/V30hcLSRz5M .
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POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER PSA:
I want to take a moment to emphasize that PTSD is something that needs support and treatment – especially for traumatized veterans that are trying to adjust to returning to civilian life. Without proper support, a traumatized person will turn to alcohol and drugs as a means of self-medication.
We need to do better as a society to support those with mental health struggles.
VIDEO SUMMARY:
A new elderly widow went to a local BBQ restaurant alone. Three young men noticed that she was eating alone. They got up and asked if they could sit with her, and she accepted the company. They enjoyed the evening, and now they meet up regularly.
The cutest part for me is when Steve Hartman says it wasn’t entirely altruistic, because they enjoyed her company as much as they did her.
And the men in the interview said: “I already feel like we’re her grandkids!”
My heart melted.
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Link: https://youtu.be/xyhQyi_KrWE
VIDEO SUMMARY:
Layla is an autistic 5 year old girl with an obsession with Disney Princesses. She was taking a walk with her mother in the park when they stumbled upon a wedding photo shoot.
The girl mistook the bride as Cinderella, and ran towards them. The bride, who’s real name is Olivia, kneeled down and talked to the little girl for a long time. Then said she had to get back to the ball.
“Cinderella” is still in touch with Layla, and she comes over to play with her all the time. Olivia is also trying to save up money to get the little girl to Disneyland to meet more Disney Princesses (this was three years ago, and I believe she has gone already).
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Link: https://youtu.be/aycd3bVRmcU
VIDEO SUMMARY:
78 year old Tona had lost her husband of sixty years. Two weeks after he died, Tona was visiting his grave. A man came up to her, and I didn’t quite understand what happened exactly, but she was mugged. He got away with $700, but was fortunately caught quickly after. Unfortunately, the money was not recovered.
When the man was caught, his mug shot was displayed on TV. His teenage son, Christian, recognized the man as his father. His father had given him $250 for a band trip he wanted to go on, and he suspected that the money belonged to Tona.
Christian asked to meet Tona in a parking lot. He apologized to her for what happened, and gave the widow the money that he suspected was hers. Tona accepted the money, and said it was her money to do what she wanted with it. She gave the money back to him so he can take his band trip.
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Link: https://youtu.be/5RYKKqkBK40
VIDEO SUMMARY:
During a choir & orchestra performance by the Handel and Haydn Society, someone in the audience shouted “Wow!” The president of the society was so positively impacted by it, he went on the search for the (unintended) heckler.
The heckler turned out to be a 9 year old boy with non-verbal autism, who essentially said one of his first words. The president arranged for a private cello performance for the little boy.
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Link: https://youtu.be/LO_mbHch9Gk
VIDEO SUMMARY:
Deborah is school cafeteria worker that is known at the school for her affection for the students. She always calls her students “sweetie-pie,” when giving them their meal. She also cooks elaborate multi-course meals and drives around town in her beat up car in search of hungry homeless people.
Deborah was invited down to the high school for an assembly, where she was surprised with a brand new car.
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Link: https://youtu.be/QNzmhTaiH5E
VIDEO SUMMARY:
A 4 year old in a superhero costume calls himself “President Austin.” He asked his parents to use his allowance and any money that would be spent on toys to make chicken sandwiches for the homeless instead.
He goes out once a week in his superhero costume to give out sandwiches and always says “Don’t forget to show love!”
This got started when he was watching a nature documentary, and a panda bear became homeless. His dad explained to him what homelessness was, and Austin immediately asked if people were homeless. When his dad said “yes”, Austin decided to become a superhero that feeds the homeless.
Austin chose his superhero name “President Austin,” because feeding the homeless is something the president should do.
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Link: https://youtu.be/vJFlO9-poJ8
VIDEO SUMMARY:
Melvin is a married man with Alzheimer’s. Like many Alzheimer’s patients, he was found wandering around outside. The police were called, and they went to recover him.
They learned that the ailing husband was trying to go to the store to buy his wife a bouquet of flowers for Mother’s Day. It was something he had done every Mother’s Day since their first child was born, and it was a memory he still had.
The police car that was sent to return Melvin home took a quick stop to the store to help him get the flowers. Then they brought him home to his wife, and he gave her the flowers.
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Link: https://youtu.be/tmNNmuqCoo4
VIDEO SUMMARY:
Gainesville is a juvenile correction school and has a basketball team for those on good behavior. Their team is the “Gainesville Tornadoes.”
Because Gainesville is a correction facility, no one attends their games.
Vanguard College Prep was the private high school that was scheduled to play against them. Row of the team members refused to play against a team with no fans because it felt horrible to have all the support, and their opponent to have none.
The Vanguard students asked half of their classmates to cheer for the opposing team. The Gainesville basketball team had full bleachers, a cheerleading team, and even fan signs saying “GO GAINESVILLE TORNADOES!”
The opposing basketball team said they were grateful, and would never forget it.
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Link: https://youtu.be/AsrV9FP_JKE
VIDEO SUMMARY:
Marek is a state-champion high school wrestler with college scholarships. He was facing off against another equally good opponent named Logan. It was an intense match. Logan was actually winning, until he badly twisted his elbow.
All Marek had to do was pin him down to win, but he decided to surrender the match, because he didn’t feel like it was fair.
I really suggest watching this one for a better understanding of the situation, because I don’t know anything about wrestling. I don’t know what he did to signify his surrender, but he definitely surrendered the match.
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Link: https://youtu.be/b0nyeuhwzW4
VIDEO SUMMARY:
Olivet Middle School had a football team with an intellectually disabled member on their team, named Keith.
His team members made a secret plan to not score on the field so that he could score a touchdown. This is another one that is probably only going to make sense unless you watch it, because I don’t know shit about football.
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Link: https://youtu.be/0Ejh_hb15Fc
VIDEO SUMMARY:
Quick note: Jackson Galaxy is a famous cat behaviorist, who helps people with volatile/struggling cats.
Koneko Cat Cafe hosts cats from the local animal shelter that are available to adopt. While there are 1-2 adoptions a week, Sammy is a cat that has been there the whole time because he can bite a hand.
Jackson helps the cafe workers figure out that Sammy is just playing, and he’d be better with humans if he gets some intense playtime in before meeting them. We don’t know if Sammy gets adopted, but fingers crossed!
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Link: https://youtu.be/34DFi53PQXQ
VIDEO SUMMARY:
Connie is a social worker who had a case involving a 9 year old boy named Taylor, who struggled with what I **think** was reactive attachment disorder.
Taylor was adopted with other two siblings, but his adoptive parents returned him due to his anger issues. He was adopted by another family, and was returned again.
Connie then dropped him as a client and then adopted him instead. It wasn’t perfect, and there were still psychological problems (which was to be expected). There was a major shift in behavior after an interaction between mom/son a few months prior to this episode.
Taylor grabbed a backpack and packed all of his things in it. He put it on, and loudly announced that he hated it there, and was running away. Connie looked at him and said:
“I’m not sending you away.”
He took his backpack off, and calmed down. The new family is adjusting better now.
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Link: https://youtu.be/mUQR5eMyp9U
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LENGTHY PSA ABOUT FOSTERING/ADOPTING:
Adoption is not a happy TV show where everything is perfect, and the child has a perfect “happily ever after.” Being orphaned has devastating psychological effects, especially if their removal from the home involves child abuse. Reactive Attachment Disorder is one of the possible devastating effects.
Reactive Attachment Disorder is a condition where an abused and neglected child struggles with making proper attachments to people/things. They get angry quickly, and will “test” people with anger, manipulation, and other abusive behaviors to see the point where they will leave. This heartbreaking disorder is very common in foster/adopted children.
If you are an American reading this and feel like your child might have a similar problem, try to contact your school counselor to see what support you can get for both your child and yourself. I only know what you can do in the US, unfortunately. If anyone abroad knows how to seek resources for a struggling child in their country, please do comment!
VIDEO SUMMARY:
Lamont is a 48 year old divorced man with two biological children. He decided to foster a child.He eventually adopted him, and he grew up to be a happy and successful nurse. Lamont ended up fostering over 30 kids, before retiring.
Then he heard about 5 siblings under the age of six, who were about to be permanently separated in the foster system. He decided to foster all five of them, and to ensure that they weren’t split up, he adopted them.
He is now a single dad with five children under the age of six. One person I showed this to was concerned that he took on such an extreme situation without considering the problems that might arise from it. Just as a reassurance: he has a lot of support from his local church and family. There’s a good village to support them. It wasn’t a reckless or impulsive decision.
He seems very happy with his new family life.
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Link: https://youtu.be/g7uMi_SnvDQ
VIDEO SUMMARY:
Monica has been a nanny to Jenni Pulos’ (crazy rich celebrity) daughter for years. Monica recently got engaged, and Jenni went all-out for her.
Jenni contacted Randy Fenoli from “Say Yes to the Dress,” as a surprise to get her on the show. Monica’s dream dress is a Hayley Paige gown that is $2k out of her budget, but she’s hoping that she can find something similar.
She does not know that Jenni is also going to pay for the dress. Jenni also secretly paid to have her family fly in so they could attend the dress-fitting.
This is one of my favorite videos because it’s so heart-melting.
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Link: https://youtu.be/aRKVvBiZw1c
VIDEO SUMMARY:
At a mall, an elderly man was terrified of going down the escalator. He was freezing up, and simply unable to step forward. 23 year old Alonzo was shopping nearby, and came to help him.
He locked arms with the older man, and guided him down the escalator. Alonzo also made conversation with the man to try to distract him from his fright.
A hospice nurse took a picture and shared it on her Facebook page. The picture went viral. Inside Edition was covering this story, and did an interview with Alonzo about it.
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Link: https://youtu.be/91hDLKWlBZY
It a world full of ugliness, it’s nice to see people who actually bring joy into it. I hope my little playlist has brightened your day just a smidge.