The news these days is often depressing at worst and frustrating at best. It’s easy to get caught up in the spin cycle and let it get us down.
Never fear… The News Blender has you covered. Once a week, we will feature Something Good and, in return, all you have to do is tell us something good that has happened to you this week, something you are thankful for, a joke, a cute animal story, an inspiring tale of heroics, a Random Act of Kindness… SOMETHING good.
The theme of this week’s Something Good is animals.
They make us laugh. They give us unconditional love. They provide companionship and protection and generally just make our lives better. When an animal is suffering, our reaction is usually to alieviate that suffering. That reaction – to a care for a creature in need – shows our humanity. And that is what we are going to talk about this week…
Today we have a story from Fox 12 in Oregon about a kitten who was saved by a good Samaritan named Chuck Hawley. Last Friday morning, he was driving along and saw something on the road in the pre-dawn darkness. It turned out to be a kitten, “cold and frightened” and in a very bad situation.
Hawley realized the five week old kitten was stuck to the road – his feet and tail had been glued to the road. Purposely, from what Chuck could see, and placed in the middle of the road in the path of almost certain death. Hawley says it was incredible that the kitten wasn’t hit: he witnessed several cars swerve around him before he stopped.
Mr. Hawley rescued the tiny creature and took him to the vet, who used mineral oil to remove the glue. Hawley is filing a police report – the Sheriff’s office says they are prepared to investigate – and hopes that cameras in the area may give a clue about who did this.
The good news is the kitten is expected to survive and has been adopted by Chuck and his wife. In fact, it is almost as if the kitten chose them. Chuck told Fox 12, “The funny thing is we were just talking about getting a cat a couple of night ago. Seems like there’s easier ways for the cat to find us, but if that’s how we’re doing it, okay, I guess that’s how we’ll do it!”
In addition to a new home, the tiny critter has a new name, given to him by Chuck’s wife: Sticky.
Sticky is enjoying his new home and his new family has even created a Facebook page devoted to him so his fans can follow his progress. Sticky’s humans have announced one minor correction to the news reports: Sticky is not a girl kitty as initially reported, but is, in fact, a boy kitty, per the vet. Sticky seems to be adapting to his new life and managing his new found celebrity with pinache and feistiness. Thanks to Chuck Hawley’s willingness to help a creature in need.
It is easy to focus on the evil in this story – who could be so cruel as to glue a kitten to a road? But there is kindness and good from people in this story that over comes the evil. Chuck’s kindness was a small thing, perhaps, in light of all the evil in the world. But his small act of kindness meant everything to Sticky the kitten and is a reminder to each of us that even the smallest act of kindess to any of God’s creatures, great or small, is Something Good.
Now, since this week’s news has been abysmal and we all need some extra smiles, I give you three additional Something Good stories that are not quite as serious as Sticky’s and will make you smile.
First, we have Riley, who shamelessly drops his toy over the fence every morning to coerce passers-by to play with him by fetching the toy and returning it. Riley has been at this game for quite some time and the replies to this tweet from his neighbors, past and present, show how much joy Riley’s game has brought people.
Riley is Something Good for a lot of people.
Next, we have Princess, the “gold-digging” pup who was in the habit of sneaking off to McDonalds and pretending to be a stray so people would give her hamburgers. Which they did, because people are moved to kindness when they see a creature in need. And even if that creature isn’t actually in need, kindness is always Something Good.
So Princess had a good thing going until her Mom caught her red pawed and recorded the pup begging in McDonald’s parking lot. Presumably Princess’s mom’s viral Facebook post put an end to the public begging which is a good thing as well. Because hamburgers are Something Good but so are boundaries.
We end today’s post with a cute video that reminds us that when an animal (or three) graces us with their love and devotion, that is Something Good. Even when we might prefer a little privacy…
Now it’s your turn… Tell me Something Good.
