Watching the news can be an exercise in masochism, but thankfully there are good people out there who collect happy facts that will make you smile!
A viral Reddit thread asked people to share the most wholesome facts they know. Naturally, we sifted through it and found some that will truly make you forget about some of life’s stresses.
20. Penguins Mate For Life
“Penguins spend a lot of time looking for a pebble to give to another penguin to propose.
If the other penguin accepts it, they mate for life.”
—FrogginBullfish_
19. Libraries Are The Best!
“The fact that libraries exist at all is the most wholesome fact I know.
There’s a place in your town, probably in a nice building or on a bit of prime real estate, that is given over to the idea of providing as much entertainment or education as you could possibly want, free at the point of use, paid for by the people and for the people as a collective space for the enjoyment of everyone, rich or poor. Pretty much every country in the world has them. The only thing you need in order to be able to make use of this service is to bring the items back in a timely manner so other people can enjoy them — and people actually do it!
Libraries are as close to the definition of a public good in every sense of the word as I can possibly find.”
—Portarossa
18. Wildlife Crossings!
“In some countries, they have ‘wildlife crossings’ which are just grassy green bridges running over highways for animals to cross, so they don’t have to cross the highway.
I think it’s the purest thing in the world.”
—00evilhag
17. Bees Help Each Other Pollinate
“Bee’s dance to show each other where flowers with pollen are.”
—JadeCresil
16. The Christmas Truce of 1914
“My favorite is the Christmas Truce of 1914.
Basically during the Christmas Eve and Day German and British soldiers had multiple soccer games against each other in no mans land during the cease fire.
Just shows that soldiers are people and not extensions of their countries ideology.”
—Sarnick18
15. Why Mr. Rogers Did This…
“Mr. Rogers began announcing that he was feeding the fish in every show because a father and his blind daughter would always tune into the show.
They wrote to him to explain that she would get very concerned that the fish were not fed on the days that he didn’t announce it.
And so he did. Every single show thereafter.”
—maleorderbride
14. Swans Are Softies
“Swans only have one partner. If separated they spend their whole life looking for them.”
—LaceGloves
13. Otters Help Each Other Out!
“Otters hold hands to keep from drifting apart while they float.”
—WatchTheBoom
12. Sharks Just Want to Get to Know You!
“Most sharks only bite people because they don’t have hands and are just curious.
Good day mate how are you doing. Just going to give you a nibble to say hi. Oh my god your bloody arm came off my bad. Ooo that looks bad are you ok? You know what I’m just going to leave. Ok so I circled around a bit seams you haven’t made it far. That’s a lot of blood mate here I’ll try to give you a boost. Let me just grab that thrashing leg. Oh come on it’s bleeding now to. Shit you know what I’m done with you bleeding all over my house I’m just going to eat you to clean this mess up.
Nothing against you.”
—Varvatos_Vex
11. War Stopped For The Ducks
“Gunfire around Dublin’s St Stephen’s Green during the 1916 Rising was stopped every day to allow for the ducks to be fed.
Park keeper James Kearney would enter the Green daily to feed the waterfowl.
Every time he did this, the opposing sides of the Irish Citizen Army and the British forces would cease firing to allow him to do so.”
—EarthMotherFucker
10. Mr. Rogers Did This Other Nice Thing
“Mr. Rogers was riding with a chauffeur and the chauffeur mentioned that they were driving by his house.
Mr. Rogers asked to come meet his family and spent the evening having dinner and played the piano while everyone sang songs.”
—MynameisMatlock
9. This is Why Rain Smells Nice
“You know how rain smells good? Rain doesn’t actually smell like anything, but water will amplify scents.
The earth smells really good all the time, but we just don’t notice until it gets boosted by the rain.”
—Maddie-Moo
8. The Beatles Loved Each Other Even During Arguments
“This will probably be buried, I don’t think you guys would think it’s super wholesome but to me it is. When Ringo left the Beatles during the White Album sessions, the Beatles wrote him a letter, telling him to come back and even calling him the best drummer in the world. And, when he came back, George Harrison decorated his drum set in flowers. I think its sweet because even though tensions were high in the studio, you can see that they cared about each other.”
—tragicalmysterytour
7. Planting A Garden is a Great Thing!
“The best thing you can do for the environment is plant a garden.”
—thousand_cranes
6. Most People Aren’t Evil
“Most humans are inherently good and willing to help you in any way.
You’ve been helped by a stranger more often than you’ve been hurt. (Online too)
We just remember the bad ones.”
—fat_strelok
5. Dogs Pet You Back!
“That when you pet a dog and then they put a paw on you, it’s them reciprocating the act.
Dogs can’t actually preform the “petting” motion so the just put a paw on you.”
—Nogard_Ruler_Brynn
4. And They Know When You’re Coming Back Home
“If you have a routine work schedule and dogs, they can tell when you’re about to get home by how much your smell has faded in the house.”
—Gioia_BiNb3
3. This Bit of Trainspotting Trivia
“Renton didn’t leave Spud any money in the Trainspotting novel.
Irvine Welsh liked the idea in the movie so much, he canonized it in the sequel.”
—The_Last_Boy_Scout
2. We Are The Universe
“All of the different elements that exist today because of which life is possible, be it Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Iron, etc. were created from exploding stars, dating all the way back to the big bang. We are literally made from the remnants of supernovas. We are the universe.”
—kislayarishiraj
1. These Wholesome Facts
“Jonas Salk refused to patent the polio vaccine and gave it away freely to save for lives.
Hugging someone has the same effect on your brain as sex and cocaine it makes you that happy.
Volvo gave away the patent for their 3 point seatbelt freely to save more lives.
Squirrels accidentally plant hundreds of trees every year by forgetting where they buried their acorns.
During the height of religious tension and riots in Egypt, a group of Muslims protected a group of Christians from being attacked, and the Christians returned the favor by holding hands in a circle around a group of praying Muslims to protect them.
During the Christmas truce in 1914 during world war 1 a German officer handed a British officer a Victoria cross and a stack of letters found on a dead British soldier who died in their trench and the British officer so touched by this gave the German his scarf he got from home and the German gave him his gloves.
In Sweden blood donors receive a thank you text every time their blood is used to help someone.”
It can be hard to be patient with other humans, but sometimes it’s good to know not everything is bad! These were some of the many thousands of replies, but we bet there are more wholesome tales out there.
The comments section is the perfect place to share these factoids, if you’d like.
