For all you pessimists out there...

Can't. Stop. Crying. Don't click the link without tissues nearby. I really needed this today.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/pictures-that-will-restore-your-faith-in-humanity

 

That was sweet.

Sincerely,
someone who recently lost her faith in humanity

 

Wasn't enough to restore my faith in humanity. Sorry.

 

Thanks for posting...

 

As soon as I got to that picture of the fireman with that smoke-stained ginger cat in his arms, I started crying.

It's nice to be reminded that there are some good, kind hearted people in this world. When life does so much to try and make me forget that fact. Thank you for this post strawberry fields!

 

:grouphug: Thanks for posting and the advice on the tissues! :bigcry:

 

<---- isn't clicking...

 

My favorite was the cat with the scrunched up face in the oxygen mask lol

 

Isn't the whole context of "needing your faith restored" kind'f pessimistic in itself?

 

You should it is really good .... I promise nothing horrible...

 

gah hah. AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

 

if that's enough to change your opinion of humanity in any way, you must be extremely impressionable.

i especially don't understand how a shopping center giving away the cheapest gift card i've ever heard of in a blatant PR stunt is supposed to be a feel-good story.

also, the norwegian guys clearly plan on sexing that sheep.

 

:toetap05:

 

It didn't change my outlook; I've always been an optimist. It's just nice to have a reminder every so often as to why I am one. No, the pics aren't all equally inspiring, but so what? I've always found pessimists and negative people to be stating the obvious...yeah, everyone knows the world sucks a lot of the time, find the good in it--that's the more challenging thing to do, and that's much more impressive to me.

 

Since the pictures aren't cheering any up, I'll tell you guys a story.


Last Summer, I met a stranger who saved my life. I was with my family on vacation in Europe, and during our time in France, I was separated from them. I asked people where my hotel was, but every person seemed to point out different directions. I later learned that there are twelve or so hotels with the same name in the city, and I had no idea where mine was. It was 11:00 P.M. when I had last seen them, and after four hours of wandering the streets of Marseilles I was exhausted and losing hope. I had heard of the city's reputation of being full of criminals which didn't help raise my spirits much. Finally, at 3:00 in the morning I asked a woman waiting in line at a night club for directions. I expected her to just point in a direction and speak in fast, strangely-accented French like most people who I had asked.

Instead, she looked me up and down before just shrugging and offering to drive me there.

This totally shocked me. Normally I would have been hesitant about an oddly attractive woman offering to give me a ride in her car (it seemed a bit too good to be true), but I was desperate to find my family. She didn't speak much English, and my French at the time was too accented to be understandable, so much of the ride was in silence. Most of it was small talk "what country are you from? How much French do you speak?" etc. She took me to the first Hotel that she knew of with the name Kyriad. It wasn't it. I was worried that she would just drop me off here and tell me that she had things to do.

But this didn't happen. She said that she would help me find every Kyriad hotel in the city, and if she didn't, I could stay in her house with her family. This totally blew me away. I had heard that the French would be rude (and they really were, but only in Paris) but this woman was a saint. Finally, we found my hotel. I offered to give her money for her trouble, but she refused. I offered again, and I realized that she wasn't turning the money down the first two or three times like is customary in Canada to be polite, she really didn't want it. I stealthily hid a about $25.00 American in the carseat (I was out of Euros) before leaving.

I never got her name, but I still think about what she did. That woman had no idea who I was. I could have been a rapist, for all she knew! Yet she still drove me around for over half an hour to help me out, and would have let me stay at her home if I didn't. Now, I'm Canadian, and I'm told that I'm a stereotypically polite one at that, but even I wouldn't have offered this to a complete stranger. Especially not if I were a petite, classy looking woman and the person I was helping was a 6'3 seventeen-year-old guy.


I'm the most pessimistic person I know, but I can't lose faith in humanity whenever I remember what happened to me.

 

Aw, thanks for sharing that! I'm a liver transplant recipient, so I can relate to not being able to lose faith in humanity.

 

what really inspires my faith in humanity is stories that can be read in under 30 seconds.

on the other hand, it's extremely refreshing to read a longer forum post by someone that understands the concept of paragraphs.

you never struck me as being above average height in your pictures that i've seen.

i wonder how drunk the girl that drove you all over the city was.

 

Whoa, really? Why did you need a liver transplant?

 

I'm not sure I agree with your definition of an optimist. I've always thought of an optimist to be someone who has a naturally rosy view of life; a pessimist to be someone who naturally sees and expects the worst; and the broad majority to be in between.

You are describing someone who yearns towards optimism; but is at heart, more of a realist.

 

This was early in the morning in France, so probably pretty fucking drunk.

And sorry if that was too long for you. I just like going into detail.... And yeah, I don't look that tall because I'm in proportion, unlike most taller dudes.