In 1964 Barbara Streisand sang the song "People." It began like this: "People who need people are the luckiest people in the world." That line seemed to me to include an oxymoron: People who need people, it seemed to me, were lonely and sad, not lucky.
As I looked back on the troubling year that concluded just over a month ago, I realized how many of us mourned or experienced the cruelty, lack of compassion, and increasing violence we were subjected to, along with hateful rhetoric and policies that hurt so many of us. Too many of us felt helpless given the lies, gaslighting, and moral corruption leading us to a seeming abyss.
It blinded us to all the goodness and small acts of kindness surrounding us. Yes, we spoke up, protested, and participated in acts of resistance. Some of us wrote about the evil that was engulfing us as the year progressed. But we neglected to write pieces that honored the ordinary, extraordinary people whose actions generated hope, revealed kindness, caring, and communal support, and made us all feel better.
The more I thought about that, the more I felt the lyrics to Streisand's song needed editing if they were to be relevant in these times. I felt guilty that I had neglected to tell simple stories about good people who remind us daily about the power of good deeds and simple heroic actions.
So, in a mea culpa, I think the lyrics are a bit off base now. It's people who help people, who hold or hug them in various ways, who are the kindest people in the world. As I was contemplating this, an abundance of human-interest stories started showing up on social media that reminded me of the goodness of human connection and caring, even when offered in small ways.
Suddenly I wanted to thank just some of the people who made this a better world in 2025. Many of the stories I saw on videos or read about on social media moved me to tears, others to smiles. There was the bus driver who stopped his bus to lift a disabled woman into the bus and seat her
gently before he folded her retrieved wheelchair and set it next to her locked, and ready to go..
Then there were the police officers who bought a kid on their beat a new bike when his couldn't be fixed. Or the two cops - a male and a female - who rescued a small child who'd been abandoned in an empty house. Before calling for help, they sang to her, cuddled her, and gave her a stuffed animal she embraced. I suspect that child will recall those two people when her full story is told years later.
There were videos of irate clergy, store clerks, voracious food vendors, feisty women, and brave street witnesses who successfully shooed away ICE bullies in heroic ways, despite knowing that they could be in trouble.
Stories about teachers and school administrators, medical personnel, fierce mothers and fathers, and persistent grannies were matched by men and women who saw a need for help in grocery lines and pulled out their wallets with a smile. Similarly, there were waitstaff in diners who served food to families who looked hungry without presenting a tab. I wanted to give each of these people Emotional Emmy Awards.
Stories like this are all around us. Here's one example posted by someone on the organization Upworthy's website.
"One time, my dad and I were leaving the grocery store around Christmas time and there was a guy outside asking for money to buy some stuff for his kids. My dad asked him if he could give him groceries instead of money, and the guy said yes, so my dad gave him one of everything we bought. My dad hadn't gotten his paycheck because the company he worked for was going through a tough time, but he didn't care, he saw an opportunity to help someone, and he did. Another time, he gave 50 bucks to a guy who said he needed to buy medicine for his kids. I said he was probably going to spend the money on alcohol or something, but my dad said, 'whether he was lying or not says something about HIS character, but hearing someone in need and choosing not to help when I have the means to says something about mine.' I never "forgot that."
Those folks exemplify everyday people who make a difference because of their kindness, compassion, and generosity, and they stand with major philanthropists like MacKenzie Scott, Melinda French Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Dolley Parton and Taylor Swift, and their male counterparts.
I wish I could share my gratitude with every person who acts with kindness, no matter their social status, this year and every year. The song "People" ends like this: "But first, be a person who needs people." I would end with this: First, be a person who helps people.
As Upworthy puts it, just "Do good recklessly!" You won't regret it.
