Hannah English’s leukemia diagnosis was met with unrelenting support. (Photo by Rasy Ran)
If you spend any amount of time on social media, especially if you are, say, a reporter, and your job kind of requires you to, you likely are witness to a tremendous amount of bitterness, fear and vitriol (and often, if you are a journalist or a public servant, business owner or a leader of some sort, it’s directed at you).
It makes it hard to remember that all around us there are good people doing selfless, loving things—they just aren’t quite as loud as the critics.
The December 2015 Lake Highlands Advocate was dedicated to kindness. Namely, we focused on people and families who has endured great loss or trauma only to be amazed by the kindness of friends, acquaintances and strangers alike.
- There was a family who lost a father in a freak, devastating accident — not only did the incident take the young father’s life, it nearly cost his stay-at-home mom widow and three children their home, until people, including two sports celebrities, came out of the woodwork to support them as they healed.
2. Another Lake Highlands couple was on a weekend vacation when they received a call that their home had burned to the ground; their children and a grandmother barely escaped with their lives. Little did the frazzled, emotional parents know, as they rushed to the airport, that even as their children stood dreary-eyed on the front lawn waiting for firefighters to extinguish the blaze—their neighbors were launching into helpful action.
3. The third family we wrote about one day took their daughter to the ER with what they figured was appendicitis. They left with a leukemia diagnosis, and their little girls’ life took a drastic turn. But it is the loving actions of her caretakers, neighbors, teachers and classmates that she may never forget.
For a dose of inspiration, read the full story here.
