Seven acts of Kindness from across the World #watwb #barathon

I end the #Barathon challenge whose theme was 'Seven' on the same day that I usually write on #WATWB (We are the World Blog), an initiative where bloggers around the world write on a story of compassion they came across. So, combining the two, I decided to give you seven real life individuals who deserve your love for their kind deeds.

Sunil, a Mangalore cab driver, made the news for refusing to accept payment for patients he drove to the hospital. His act lit up social media with over 40,000 likes on social media after a patient's daughter pointed out his heartwarming deeds. 

When customers of Javed Khan's roadside keema vada stall in Coimbatore found out he had lost his foot to diabetes, they chose to use social media positively, getting donations from friends who cut across religious and national boundaries to sponsor his healthcare bills as well as his children's education. 

With time running out as her fiance was due to leave for the army, a snow storm caused two wedding venues to cancel and the priest to back out sending 23 year old Camille Bethea into a panic. When all else failed, she turned to an unlikely source to help fix her wedding plans - the Arlington firefighters. Take aback at first, the romantics saved the day for the couple by rigging up their station as an altar, playing music on the fire truck's radio for the couple's first dance and using the truck's lights as a makeshift disco ball.

When a security officer collapsed in the heat, six prisoners of Polk County Jail chose not to escape in his van but instead used his phone to dial 911 and then performed CPR till emergency services arrived. They would later be thanked by the family of the officer with home cooked meals and desserts.

When a 9 month old Palestinian baby was hospitalized after a car accident that killed his father and injured his mother, he refused to take bottle feeds. At a loss, his aunts asked the nursing staff for help only to be astounded when the Jewish nurse Ostrowski-Zak volunteered and breastfed the baby herself. Cutting across political and religious divides, she breastfed the child five times and also helped seek out volunteers to help breastfeed the child once he was discharged as the mother was still in a critical condition.

When a man drove in to a New York auto repair shop with racist graffiti spray painted all over his vehicle sorrowfully asking for an estimate for repairs, Frank Todaro and his employees at Collison Masters were so angry, they stopped everything they were doing and got together to work on the car, fixing what would have taken hours in just 30 minutes. They took no payment and apologized on behalf of the racists. (Facebook post here)

Not doing any favours to the 'cops & donuts' stereotype, Indiana University Police Officer John O'Rourke went to a donut shop just hours before his wedding. He ended up saving the life of a three year old girl who had lost consciousness after a seizure, performing CPR till the paramedics arrived. The girl survived, the donut shop gave John a free box of donuts and yes, he did get married later that day.  

Author's note:

BAR-A-THON

You can find posts by other bloggers for Day 7 here. 

My posts in this challenge have been:
1. Thanos & the Infinity Stones (Marvel Movie Trivia)
2. 14 Movies Better than the Book
3. 14 Dishes of Malabar Cuisine
4. Top Disney Songs Over the Last Three Decades
5. Top 28 Suspense Movies That Will Keep You Guessing Till the End
6. Which Movies Do You Enjoy Watching Over and Over?
7. Seven acts of Kindness from around the World

WE ARE THE WORLD

There is a lot more kindness where that came from. I have compiled over 30 heroes of kindness and compassion this year, including interviews with some of them. You can find the list here. 

~~~GUIDELINES~~~

1. Keep your post to below 500 words, as much as possible.

2. All we ask is you link to a human news story on your blog on the last Friday of each month, one that shows love, humanity and brotherhood.

3. Join us on the last Friday of each month in sharing news that warms the cockles of our heart. No story is too big or small, as long as it goes beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.

4. Place the WE ARE THE WORLD Badge on your sidebar, and help us spread the word on social media. Tweets, Facebook shares, G+ shares using the #WATWB hashtag through the month most welcome. More Blogfest signups mean more friends, love and light for all of us.

5. We’ll read and comment on each others’ posts, get to know each other better, and hopefully, make or renew some friendships with everyone who signs on as participants in the coming months.

You can read more feel-good posts (and also add your own, if you want to share the joy with #WATWB) in the linky here.