The Good News Effect
Good news begets better people. That's the conclusion of researchers at the University of British Columbia. In four separate studies, results showed a direct link between a person's exposure to media stories of extraordinary virtue and their yearning to change the world. "If more attention was devoted to recounting stories of uncommon acts of human virtue, the media could have a quantifiable posit... posted on Apr 04 2011, 6,847 reads

Free Music Lessons Build A Priceless Community
Every day, 120 students from the inner city, the suburbs and the rolling hills come to Scrollworks for free music lessons. Many travel over an hour to get there. With her entire retirement savings, Jeane Goforth launched this organization as a fun place for kids from all different socieconomic levels and backgrounds to make friends, and to change their thinking. The ripples are tremendous. "She wa... posted on Apr 03 2011, 1,596 reads

Thank You for Doing the Most Important Job
While sitting on the bus one day, I took a book out and was about to read. But I was distracted by a young woman behind me who was speaking on her cell phone. She was talking to her brother. She wanted to know where he was, why he wasn't where he was supposed to be, why he had lied to their mother again and did he know that their mum had broken down in tears that morning because of him. I never lo... posted on Mar 28 2011, 4,423 reads

The Untapped Power of Smiling
We're born to do it. A smile is one of the most basic, biologically uniform expressions of all humans. Paul Ekman, the world's leading expert on facial expressions, discovered that smiles are cross-cultural and have the same meaning in different societies. 3-D ultrasound technology shows that developing babies appear to smile even in the womb. The mood-boosting power of a smile is unfathomable. St... posted on Mar 25 2011, 19,927 reads

Costumed Crusaders Taking it to the Streets
Crusaders costumed in tights, capes, cowls and other accoutrements are turning up with surprising regularity in American cities to fight what they consider their biggest enemy: public apathy. They call themselves Real Life Superheroes and, with names like Dark Guardian, Red Dragon, and Viper, they might be right at home on the pages of comic books. But unlike their ink-and-paper counterparts, they... posted on Mar 15 2011, 3,351 reads

From Linda to Chad to Michael to You
Whenever Linda goes out with her 7-year-old granddaughter, they play a contest: "Who Can Make the Most People Smile?" Over time, Linda subconsciously started tuning into the kindness around her. One day, while she was in line at the drug store, a young woman with a sick, crying baby was asked to come back in 2 hours; a tear trickled down her cheek, when suddenly, an older fellow sitting on the sid... posted on Mar 08 2011, 4,044 reads

From the Streets to Opportunity and Confidence
Nguyen Duc Canh says he used to stay at Vietnam's only "1,000-star hotel." Translation: He grew up under a bridge. Abandoned by his parents in Hanoi, Canh sold chewing gum to tourists. Eventually, he ran into KOTO, or "Know One, Teach One." A 2-year program in Vietnam and Cambodia, KOTO trains former street kids to cook, wait tables and speak English. It "taught me life skills and gave me a house ... posted on Mar 06 2011, 1,122 reads

Coach Donates Kidney To Star Player
A college coach has stepped up to the plate for one of his players with an amazing gift. Wake Forest University baseball coach Tom Walter just donated a kidney to freshman outfielder Kevin Jordan, a 19-year-old he recruited last year. Jordan's family was not compatible and could not donate their organs; Coach Walter tested himself and was found to be a perfect match. According to the National K... posted on Feb 27 2011, 1,373 reads

Life is 'Baeutiful'
Do you remember the name of your kindergarden teacher? I do, mine. Her name was Mrs White. I don't remember much about what we learned in her class, but my mother once told me that we used to write a lot. And I would bring back what I wrote and she would look at it and see there were so many mistakes. But no red corrections. And always a star. Sometimes even a Good! scrawled in that would make my ... posted on Feb 25 2011, 16,400 reads

Tiny Superheroes Don Capes and Do Good
"We saw someone next door and we said hi. And we gave him flowers. And we tell him he could come to our school." 3 year-old Cooper Spataro and his classmates are "superheroes of kindness," performing weekly acts of good will that include cleaning school windows and delivering paper flowers to residents of an assisted living community. Teacher Kristal Burns came up with the concept after discoverin... posted on Feb 20 2011, 2,729 reads