Regular readers will know that although I’m tough on creationists, accommodationists, and various specie of morons, I’m a bit of a softy on certain topics, e.g., rabbits, baby ducks, and specimens of Felis catus. I suspect many of you feel likewise. So perhaps you’ll appreciate an end-of-the-week upper: a BuzzFeed compilation of “21 pictures that will restore your faith in humanity.” (This presumes, of course, that you have lost your faith in humanity and that it can be restored by photos of firefighters resuscitating kittens.)
I show a few of the pictures below and there are others (including dogs, not shown here) at the site.
Repentant Chicago Christians who showed up at a gay pride parade to apologize for homophobia in the Church:
Another scene from the parade. Both photos by Michelle Gantner:
A villager carrying stranded kittens to dry land during a flood in Cuttack, India (photo by Biswaranajan Rout/AP):
A man gives his shoes to a homeless girl in Rio de Janeiro:
Firefighters rescuing cats from house fires, with the first one getting oxygen (first photo by Tom Bauer, Missoulian; second by Chris Bauer/AP):
This is sweet but sad: a note that an elderly lady handed to a waiter along with a $20 tip:
And this one will brand me forever as a softy, but I can’t help but close with it. It’s titled “two best friends on a swing”:
If you like dogs, there is an awesome series of a man rescuing a dog that had fallen into the sea, and the tears of its grateful owner.
I think I have something in my eye.
Ditto 🙂
Ditto. Rührend.
of course you’re a softie – you’re human 🙂 It’s why we love ya!
+1
Jerry,
I think you’re going to have to send yourself a signed copy of your book after that last picture.
+1
Suddenly I’m in a much better mood today. Thank you.
This has been going the rounds in FB
BuzzFeed compilation of “21 pictures that will restore your faith in humanity.” … you have lost your faith in humanity and that it can be restored by photos of firefighters resuscitating kittens
Never lose hold of misanthropy or skepticism. Slate:
http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/funny-pictures-ceiling-cat-tells-kitten-to-kill.jpg
NPR had a feature about buzzfeed that I caught, last week i think. Basically it’s a business where they have somebody scouring the net everyday to create posts that they intend to go viral. They know the usual formula – cute pics, celebrity, kittens, etc. That’s their whole business process – try to make things go viral for the ad hits.
Nevertheless, I did like this particular compilation.
These truly did inspire. Thank you!
Thanks, that was especially needed after the Texas GOP platform post, one of the most depressing posts you have ever made.
Thank you for reminding me there is still hope for humanity. Very enjoyable pictures indeed.
Have a nice week end.
I found #18 interesting. Way back in the day, when eating out was a rare treat for my wife and I, a much younger (late teens/early 20s, maybe) couple had their credit card denied at the restaurant (an Olive Garden). The young man was clearly distraught and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t trying to cheat anyone, so we told the their waiter to add their bill to ours.
Apparently, the manager thought this was nice enough that he wound up comping everything, their bill and ours. 🙂 We left a VERY nice tip for the waitstaff.
Thanks for posting these, Jerry. I live in Colorado Springs, where the Waldo Canyon fire is burning, and it was so nice to see pictures of things that were not of flames or homes/mountainsides in flames.
I love the ones posted here, but the sheep being pulled from the ocean really made my day.
As a longtime San Franciscan, we don’t usually see whats in the top photo, but we definitely are pleased to see it somewhere else.
moral of the story: fat people are sorry…. and so are our todler…. go cats.
What else could I say? Awwww!
PS: I’m Brazilian and really loved the picture from Rio.
There is hope for all humanity, including christians, and for stranded kittehs
Make that “faux-christians”.
If self-styled christians actually lived their lives according to the precepts of Christ himself, the world would be a better place.
They don’t.
It isn’t.
Too bad, for the core teaching of Christ is charity and love toward all.
I don’t think you read much of what “Christ” said.
I actually feel a warm, fuzzy feeling, deep down inside…
Time for more Tums. *trollface*
But yeah, great post. My favorite was the shoes.
Great pictures! I’ve always thought the atheists who say the Universe cares nothing for its inhabitants must have somehow grown up without the love of another human being.
That would be a shame, but human evolution has been much more about the survival of those who were loved the most, than about who was most fit to survive. What parent denies their child food on the basis that they are imperfect? Even graves tens of thousands of years old show that individuals crippled from birth were cared for by their tribe, to live to what whas then a ripe old age.
Perhaps atheism is a kind of flaw in one’s vision; the Universe itself is both the face of God, and a mirror.
Well that’s a load of gobbledegook. For the Universe to ‘care’ it would have to have a consciousness. I’m not aware that many religiosos claim that. And even if it did have a consciousness, if it cares, why earthquakes and tsunamis? Funny way to show it.
And what has the Universe got to do with human (or animal) caring?
Because we say ‘awwwww, that’s cute’ doesn’t mean our brains have turned to mush.
Actually some animals do deny their weakest offspring food until it starves to death, in order to provide more for the strongest; what does this tell you about the universes feelings for that unfortunate bird..if anything?
From watching one of the many bald eagle nest cams several years ago, I learned that the lahying and hatching of eagle eggs is staged so that if food is in short supply the older chicks are favored and the younger ones die.
Nature red in tooth and claw.
By the way, Iain, because to you god is just a concept, ie; God = The Universe, you really are already an atheist at heart
“graves tens of thousands of years old show that individuals crippled from birth were cared for by their tribe, to live to what whas then a ripe old age.”
There is a lot more evidence of human sacrifice and murder than caring for the infirm.
That pensive bearded guy in the middle of the top photo officiated my completely non-religious wedding. His name is Nathan Albert, and he is as loving and compassionate a human as you could hope to find.
A great start to my day. Thank you Jerry.
I’ve always been a glass-half-full, optimistic about my fellow man type and those type of photos only re-enforce it. Though I certainly don’t remain blind to the bad stuff. In fact, it’s often in a debate with a theist about the problem of suffering that the theist will ask “Ok, well then if the world is soooo bad and filled with such suffering and grief, why do you Mr. Atheist go on? Why live? Why bother acting good toward other people?”
One of my answers is: because of The Good. There are also huge quantities of Good in the world and it’s inspiring. Many lives are not miserable and filled with suffering and when you see, or personally experience, how wonderful life can be either in special moments or over a long haul, you recognize how desirable and worthwhile it is to experience. Good times, good acts show there is another way, another possibility when faced with suffering or evil actions. That it doesn’t have to BE the case that life is only suffering or not worth desiring. And those of us fortunate enough to have a “good life” can find the motivation to help others less fortunate: knowing how great life can be motivates us to work toward a world in which everyone, or at least many more people, can have good lives rather than wretched ones.
Vaal.
I really like that. The Good. Isn’t that really what some people are trying to articulate when they say God?
There is also this photo of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army at work: http://www.pekingduck.org/2010/08/human-pla-bridge/
I am surprised it didn’t make the cut.
Thanks for posting. This is so sweet.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve turned into an emotional marshmallow. My movie going buddy is now used to my choking up when we go see the latest Pixar release.
But guess what? I’d far rather be an emotional marshmallow than a cold uncaring unemotional type. Yes, Mittens, I’m thinking of you.
So relax, Jerry, and enjoy your inner squishiness. It’s nothing to be ashamed of in the least.
Faith not restored.
Red Green’s man’s prayer … I’m a man and I can change … I guess.
You missed a bit. “I’m a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess”
Sorry, big Red Green fan, he reminds me of some of the men in my family.