Sangha of Auspicious Companions

This Week’s DailyGood Digest

This week’s stories brought us to diverse corners of the world through the lenses of inner growth and systemic change.

We tuned into disarming moments of resilience across Africa with the rediscovery of rare bongos in Kenya’s Maasai Mau forest and a pangolin pup’s rescue in a cardboard box in Johannesburg. In Uganda, a monk’s remarkably improbable journey illuminated the path to self-discovery and a burgeoning community rooted in values. In the US, two mindfulness brain researchers take a deeper look at dopamine and the brain, inviting us to notice that rather than trying to want less, the key lies in learning to like more. In parallel, Parker Palmer’s stirring reflection demonstrates how seeing with soft eyes allows us to connect deeply with others amidst the world’s cacophony of diverse viewpoints. In India, one teenager’s process of writing the book she wanted to read invites us into powerful insights on creativity and the kindness embedded in storytelling. Speaking of young voices, across hundreds of schools in the UK, a reimagined student council process unearths how learning at a young age that one’s voice matters has life-long ripple effects. Finally, a state’s relentless outreach to its mentally ill residents unveils how compassion is a powerful equalizer. Through these stories, we find living examples of how taking small steps to be true to one’s values can weave remarkable social tapestries of hope and possibility.

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A Carpenter and the Boy He Saved, 30 Years Later

Two carpenters were on a second floor with no stairs yet built in. That detail alone tells you something about the urgency of what happened next. In 1987, Brad Jachna and his friend Kip Kerfoot jumped from that unfinished floor and ran when they spotted a toddler, Tom Copeland, motionless in a Florida pond. Brad slapped the boy’s back until he heard him catch his first breath of air — and then life moved on, as it does, carrying all three in separate directions. Kip kept the newspaper clipping framed on his shop wall. Brad would occasionally think, “I wonder what happened to him?” Decades later, an online search for the toddler’s name answered that question — and Brad sent a message to a grown man who had never known who saved him. They met at StoryCorps in 2018, two years after Kip had already passed away, and Tom asked what his rescuer might have said. “I know he’d give you a hug and say he’s happy,” Brad answered. What makes this story linger isn’t the rescue itself but Brad’s quiet confession: “I have not been the nicest person… but it makes me feel good inside, for something that didn’t take five minutes. But it’s lasted a lifetime.” Sometimes the most enduring things we do are the ones we almost didn’t notice doing.

Be The Change

Think of one small act you did — or someone did for you — that took almost no time but changed something real. Write it down in a sentence or two, then share it with the person involved, or with someone who should know.