Some Positive Stories - October 2020
A collection of positive news stories I've found throughout the month.
A Positive Spin was created because the state of the world was not doing my mental health any favors, and it’s still difficult at times. To be honest, it’ll probably remain a bit difficult to navigate these murky waters for quite some time.
With A Positive Spin, though, I’ve been actively looking for good things to share on this newsletter. Being able to focus on seeing good stories, stories with happy or hopeful endings is helping to retrain my brain to see the positive rather than focusing on reading stories boasting only bad news.
There is also an underlying theme with the stories I’m sharing today. All of them have to do with dogs. There aren’t many people who cannot smile when looking at a dog, right?
Just last week, there was a green puppy born in Italy. Appropriately named Pistachio, the pup was born with the odd-colored fur while the rest of his siblings shared their mother’s white fur. While the condition is rare, it’s generally believed that the green color happens when a puppy comes into contact with biliverdin while in their mother’s womb.
Pistachio’s green fur will eventually fade as he grows older, but his special coat is one of the main reasons why his owner has chosen him to learn how to herd sheep like his mother while the rest of his siblings will find loving homes.
The owner also cites that green is generally the color of hope and good luck, and believes that perhaps Pistachio’s fur happened to give people a smile amid the pandemic.
Aside from the pandemic, we’ve been seeing quite a few hurricanes this season as well. When Hurricane Delta hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, a man sheltered 300 dogs (and other animals, like cats, chicks, sheep, and a hedgehog) in his own home.
Ricardo Pimentel actually founded the animal shelter Teirra de Animales (Land of Animals) and was worried about the then-incoming Hurricane Delta’s strength. While he boarded up whatever parts of the buildings and prepped his land as much as possible, he was still worried about all of the animals under his and his family’s care.
So, he moved all the animals into his house.
While Pimental mentioned that the house smelled terrible, of course, they all survived the storm. He’s hoping the story of their survival and the media will help others want to be part of the story by adopting an animal or two.
After all, if he has room for over 300 animals in his house, surely some folks out there have the room for one or two.
This story is a little bittersweet. At the end of September, a woman posted an obituary for her beloved golden retriever.
The heartwarming obituary went viral. While it’s devastating to lose a beloved member of the family—especially a furry one, someone who isn’t able to spend quite enough time on the earth with us—it was special to see how this woman’s obituary to her dog united so many others.
Well-wishes and condolences were offered to Sallie Hammett for Charlie, along with messages from owners saying that they would give their own pup (or another furry member of the family) extra love in Charlie’s honor. It was even cathartic for folks who have lost their own pets, with many people mentioning how Charlie would be meeting their old friends across the Rainbow Bridge.
While it undoubtedly hurt Hammett to lose Charlie, I imagine seeing the unity that her obituary for him brought eased her grief just a little.
Keep looking for the positivity in this world! If you’re having trouble finding it, be the positivity this world needs.