This powerful image is of Luke Wilson, the son of a soldier who was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan.
When his mother shared this image on Facebook she added this description: “Found my son sitting having a moment with his daddy the other day. We lost him Jan. 15 in Afghanistan. … We cannot forget about the incredible loss these children must undertake.”
It’s so painful to see this. But such a reminder of the effect we have on the people around us… even when we are gone.
This beautiful young lady has been through so much. On New Year’s Eve Pippie, as she’s affectionately called, was playing in the garden, while her family was having a barbeque when the bottle of lighter liquid exploded in her daddy’s hands.
Pippie sustained 3rd degree burns over 80% of her body.
Only given a 10% chance of survival, the doctors tried a new procedure that would use her stem cells to create new skin that would then be transplanted on her body. The transplant was successful and now Pippie is living a happy, healthy life.
Pippie’s story, which you can read more about here, is a heartbreaking but beautiful story about how life can change at any moment, and how, even when things seem almost impossible, we must remember just how lucky we are to be alive and to be with our loved ones.
It’s amazing to think how many people reach a point in their lives where they don’t think life is worth living anymore. And increidbly sad. That’s why photos like this, that show a policeman valiantly (and successfully!) talking a person out of making the worst decision he could ever make, are so inspiring. A reminder that hope never dies and that we can extract ourselves from the worst situations.
In this instance, the police officer saved the man’s life. And eight years later they reunited. And the man who years ago might have lost everything said: “I didn’t want him to try and stop me but now I’m glad he did. All I can say is that I am truly grateful. You gave me an opportunity to live.”
This image, titled, “Kiss of Life”, won the Pulitzer Prize for phtogoraphy in 1968. It was taken by a photographer who was covering a nearby railroad strike who happened to notice that high above him there was an electric worker who had been shocked by 4,160 volts of electricity.
Amazingly, his fellow worker was able to resuscitate him before the ambulance arrived.
What a striking reminder of just how delicate is and what a blessing we are to have good people around us to support us in times of danger.
This image was posted on imgur with this title: “My 103 year-old great-grandfather spending his last moments with his son, my grandfather.”
This beautiful image belies a tragic story. Next to this young, beautiful young woman is her daughter. She is fourteen.
Her story was made famous when she left her abusive, much older husband and took a taxi to the courthouse in Sanaa, Yemen. She fought a landmark legal case that allowed her to divorce and return home to her family. She has since become an international heroine for women’s rights, most notably through the organization, Too Young To Wed, that has been fighting child marriage throughout the world.
To see her joy in this photo is a reminder of both the negative and the positive she has experienced. The horrible difficulties, but also the freedom that eventually resulted. The difficulties of her life but also the way she was able to inspire countless women with her bravery. Just by refusing to give up, she reminded the world how precious her own, and thus every other person’s, life was.
This image was posted on imgur with this title: ”My boyfriend and I met a year ago in a mental hospital after we had both attempted suicide. Today we’re celebrating one year of not being dead!”
What a gorgeous reminder. A reminder that no matter how low things go, we can always rise higher. That even only a year after the worst point in our lives, we could be celebrating with the person we love. And the beauty of this is that the two clearly worked together to reach this point.
They need each other to realize just how precious their lives were.
And so do we all.
‘Gramps’ details the final years of coal miner Frank Tugend’s life, which he spent in the care of his family. Tugend suffered from generalized arteriosclerosis in the years before his death and required assistance from his grandsons for virtually every task.
In the photo, Dan Jury is seen cradling his grandfather in the year 1974.
The Jurys managed to capture not only the fragility of Tugend’s life in those final days but also the continuing strength of his spirit. The Good Books Blog shared this excerpt from the book, which is no longer in print:
“On February 11, 1974, Frank Tugend, aged eighty-one and of dubiously sound mind- but certainly of sound body – removed his false teeth and announced he was longer going to eat or drink. Three weeks later to the day, he died.”
Source: Charidy.com & Reddit
Kindness Blog 
wow…what an amazing post! 🙂
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Amazing pictures and stories. Thank you for sharing.
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Reblogged this on Resilience Life Coach.
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Very touching humanity.
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We need more incidences such as these ones, to remind us, that there’s still a whole lot of good in this world, thanks for sharing the photographs.
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I am always aware very ‘aware’ when I read a post with a succession of images such as these of how my body reacts…my breathing alters, my heart seems to be beating in-between giant waves of emotion and well…my eyes leak…I am at the start of my day…and because of this post I am going to approach my day with reverence, gratitude, and I am going to give more love out today…thank you!
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Love your ‘name’! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, it’s great to have you join us. It means more than we can say to hear that the blog’s content is, in some way, connecting with others.
Thank you for sharing 🙂
Mike.
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These were intense reminders of how precious life is and how much power we have to help others, if we use it!
Thanks for sharing. I continue to be inspired by your wonderful blog. 🙂
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I am sitting here with tears of gratitude and joy streaming down my face. When I hear so many awful stories in the news that do nothing but depress, scare and anger me, this amazing place, the Kindness Blog, is a garden of hope, faith, inspiration, love, joy and all that is good and positive about here on Earth.
Thank you for this post especially. We do have power to help ourselves and others, and we may be called on to use that power–it may be that ONLY we can help and save at that moment.
I believe with all my heart that there is far more good around us than we realize, and stories like this just confirm it.
Love to you all.
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Reblogged this on Kindness Blog.
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Reblogged this on Not Tomatoes and commented:
For the 3.2.1 Me blog challenge that Jan Malique nominated me for. I’m sort of cheating with this one, but since I already participated in the challenge writing about inspiration, and this post captured so beautifully the subject of “beauty,” I felt I could not have done better:
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Thank you for sharing 🙂
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These photos and commentaries are in turn thought provoking and humbling. Thank you for sharing so poignantly
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Thank you, Sallie.
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