Five Good Things Happening in the World

Marissa Laramie, Current Events and Sports Editor

The chaos of the past few months have left us all pretty exhausted and wondering “is there any good left in the world?” Need some news that’ll restore your faith a little or even just make you crack a smile? Here’s five stories that’ll do just that.

 

1 Tragedy turned positive after a community rallied together for members of the Victoria Islamic Center in Victoria, Texas after the mosque burned down. The fire took place on a Friday night and by the next morning, everyone knew. One of the first signs of solidarity came from the local synagogue, B’Nai Isreal, when members of the congregations literally handed keys to their house of worship to the founder of the Islamic Center for use. Soon after, a GoFundMe was created and has raised over $1 million, surpassing the $850k goal, in only five days. The cause has not yet been determined but the community remains strong and in good spirit.

 

2 When you think of IKEA you generally think about how frustrating setting up that Hemnes nightstand was or about that time you actually got lost for a few hours in the store, so you might be wondering how refugees come into this situation. The Scandinavian company has designed easy to build, durable shelters for the millions of refugees fleeing war. With harsh winter weather hitting the population hard, this shelter has the potential to save many lives. IKEA also plans to start selling rugs made by Syrian refugees in the upcoming years, which will provide job opportunities to help those fleeing start a new, happy life.

 

3 Worried about the current state and future of the environment? Things can look bleak but the Irish parliament took a huge step on January 19, 2017 to brighten that outlook a little more. Introduced by Thomas Pringle, a bill was proposed that would divest all funds in the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund from fossil fuels. The vote passed the law 90 to 53, meaning no more of the country’s sovereign funds would be invested in companies such as Exxon. The historic bill will lead to the divestment of $8.6 billion over a projected course of five years.

 

4 Stress from school gets to all of us at some point, but imagine being in the shoes of Amy Craton, who put her education on hold in 1962 after a divorce so she could work and provide for her four children. Fifty years later, the ninety-four-year-old finished the job and graduated with her Bachelors of Art in Creative Writing and English from Southern New Hampshire University with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Why did Craton decided to finally go back? After reflecting on her “golden years” she said “I couldn’t see just sitting there watching Netflix all the time.” But one degree wasn’t enough for Craton who has now enrolled to complete her Masters. As for the stress we all experience, she says, “as long as I get good grades I’ll be happy.”

 

5 Prom is one of the nights many girls look forward to as they’re growing up. It’s one of those nights where everything should be perfect and every girl should feel like a princess. The harsh reality is, prom is expensive and not everyone can foot the bill. Violina Ancheva, aka Miss Bulgaria, knew just that. She took to social media and announced that she wanted to give her stunning dress worn in the Miss Universe pageant to a deserving girl. Over 14,000 hopeful comments were left until Ancheva chose a fifteen-year-old girl named Zyra, who is the daughter of a single mother in the Philippines. After meeting with the two, Ancheva stressed the importance of helping others, as you may need it yourself someday.