Teenage heroes, a legendary granddad and everyone’s favorite giraffe
When’s the last time you sent someone a letter? Not an invitation or a check or (heaven forbid) a bill, but an honest-to-goodness, handwritten, hand-addressed piece of correspondence. If you can’t remember, maybe it’s time to grab your best pen and some stamps and get to it. No matter how much technology changes the way we communicate, there will never be anything like tearing open an envelope to see the loving handwriting (or chicken scratch) of a dear friend just waiting to be read. But honestly, be thankful we didn’t handwrite this week’s Good Stuff. It wouldn’t be anywhere close to legible.
Our favorites this week
Get going with some of our most popular good news stories of the week
A warm welcome
Speaking of letters, we L-O-V-E this sweet gesture from the young students at Dayton Consolidated School in Maine. Morey Belanger, a 6-year-old kindergartner, is the school’s first deaf student, and to make her feel welcome, the school staff decided to teach all the students some sign language. So far, the kids have have learned how to sign more than 20 words including colors, letters and school-related terms. The school also invited a real-life “princess” who knows sign language to come speak to students this week. “We wanted to show our students that this isn’t something they can only speak with Morey,” the school’s principal said. “We wanted to show them that signing happens in all kinds of settings.”
A very worthy journey
Pictures like these just send our hearts straight to the moon. This is 101-year-old Walter Kloc and his grandson, Joseph Kloc. The elder Kloc served in World War II for the Army Air Forces more than 70 years ago, and last week, he traveled more than 1,500 miles to witness his grandson’s graduation from the Air Force Academy. However, Mr. Kloc didn’t just attend — he was the one to actually commission his grandson as an Air Force officer. According to the Academy, the elder Kloc received a standing ovation from the crowd, and “everyone in the room was gifted with a memory they’ll never forget.”
High school heroes
How about some good old-fashioned teenage heroism? Dylan Wick, Seth Byrd, Nick Byrd and Wyatt Hall were hanging out in their town of Sepulpa, Oklahoma, last month when they noticed the smell of burning rubber and saw flames coming from an elderly neighbor’s house. The teens — all high school football players between 14 and 17 years old — sprang into action. Two broke into the house and the two others called 911 and alerted neighbors. Sure enough, 90-year-old Catherine Richie was inside. Though her granddaughter says Richie is a strong woman who regularly volunteers and can definitely hold her own, the sudden onset of smoke had made it hard for her to find her way out of the burning house. Luckily, the young men found her and brought her to safety. (Fun fact: One of the young men, Dylan, wants to become a firefighter. Looks like he got a head start!)
Raise a glass to…
Wes Studi, who will be come the first Native American actor to receive an Academy Award. Studi, who is of Cherokee descent, starred in the 1990 film “Dances With Wolves” and went on to appear in more than 40 movies, including “The Last of the Mohicans” and “Geronimo: An American Legend.” The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said he was chosen for the honorary award for “portraying strong Native American characters with poignancy and authenticity.” The award is expected to be presented in October.
You gotta see this
Woo, pretty. Did you know fossilized dinosaur bones can actually turn into opals? I didn’t. This is a one of the opalized vertebrae of the Fostoria, a type of dinosaur that scientists didn’t even know existed until they beheld opal-encrusted fossils found in an opal mine in Australia.
Heroes among us
Imagine being 97. You have experienced so much that so many people will never get to experience, including the basic feat of living to 97. You’re a survivor! You’re an inspiration! You’re … going to willingly jump out of a plane! Here you see World War II veteran Tom Rice doing just that. The nonagenerian completed a parachute jump over Normandy this week to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Heck, I am less than a third of his age and this single act of daredevil-dom would probably do me in. Veterans are hardcore.
Wanna get away?
Ahh, the perfect place to contemplate nature and the existence of mankind. This equally weird and picturesque rock formation is the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, and it’s the stuff of actual legend. The story goes that it was created by the giant Finn McCool to face off against his Scottish rival Benandonner, and then destroyed by the latter as he retreated home. Whatever the real origin, it’s one of CNN’s 24 most unusual landscapes.
Hear, hear!
“Since my childhood I’ve been playing football. When I play and coach I can forget problems and I feel free. It gives me ultimate satisfaction and makes me feel equal. It’s a passion.”
– Yumon Masri, a Palestinian football (soccer, for us Yanks) coach from the West Bank. To celebrate the Women’s World Cup, which kicked off this weekend, CNN asked female soccer (football) enthusiasts from around the world to share what the beautiful game means to them.
Who knew?
June is Pride Month, so here’s a fun pride fact to share: The rainbow pride flag was designed in 1978 by an openly gay activist and artist named Gilbert Baker. It originally had eight colors instead of six, and each color was assigned a meaning: hot pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic, blue for harmony and violet for spirit.
Tell us something good
Arlington, Virginia
We all have something we can teach other people. For Girl Scout Troop 60013, it’s something that comes easily to them, but maybe not so easily to other generations: technology. The Girl Scout troop recently hosted “TechBridge,” a walk-in clinic to help local senior citizens learn how to use their cellphones. “I was teaching this older woman how to text people, and the first thing that she did was text her daughter,” one scout said. “And I thought that was really sweet, and it just made me feel really, really happy.”
Shameless animal video
There’s always time for cute animal videos. That time is now.
One of the most famous giraffes in the world is retiring from internet stardom. April the Giraffe rose to fame in 2017 when it took her forever — really, FOREVER — to give birth to her fourth calf, and mothers all over the world held their breath in solidarity. April’s now the proud mama of five giraffe babies and will be retired from her zoo’s propagation program. Happy trails, April! Here’s a cute video of her and her little one in their early days of stardom. Ah, they grow up so fast. (Click here to view)
