Inspired Life

Stories about humanity

(Alanah Brown)

Four boys left a note in a bottle 27 years ago. Someone just found it.

Brian Standefer called it “a surreal and emotional thing, especially since we’d lost Travis.”

By Cathy FreeAugust 9

How full-contact tackle football became ‘therapy’ for these girls

By Cathy FreeAugust 8

Librarian finds love notes, doodles in books and shares them with a grateful public

By Sydney PageAugust 3

An 18-year-old lifeguard helped deliver a baby on a YMCA pool deck

By Sydney PageAugust 1

How 80 dogs were saved: ‘We’ve done a lot of rescues ... but never one like this’

By Cathy FreeJuly 28

The Optimist

I spent the night in an empty airport. It was a dream come true.

January 11

A woman saw 3 children fall into an icy pond. She ran out and saved them, police say: ‘What she did was amazing.’

January 11

A pet dog ran off into the mountain wilderness. Four months later, rescuers found it trapped in 5 feet of snow.

January 10

Tips for hosting a stress-free holiday gathering

November 9

More Inspired Life

(Kiya Edwards)

Retired barber in Minn. cuts hair for donations — to feed the poor in South Africa

In the five years he’s been cutting hair free, Tom Gorzycki has raised more than $10,000 for Arm and Arm in Africa.

July 27

A town didn’t have a veterans memorial. So this teen designed and built one.

July 26

A worker paused to help find a missing girl. He found her waist-deep in a stream.

July 25

A town didn’t have a veterans memorial. So this teen designed and built one.

July 26

A worker paused to help find a missing girl. He found her waist-deep in a stream.

July 25

She won the lottery. Then she shared her windfall with strangers.

July 22

She just got accepted to medical school. She’s 13.

July 20

More from the Optimist

(Illustration by Katty Huertas/The Washington Post)

Bi-national couples await airport hugs and the end of a long separation

November 5

This U.S. city just voted to decarbonize every single building

November 3

A recipe for fighting climate change and feeding the world

October 12

Climate Solutions

Composting in NYC is hard. Cyclists and a pug named Rocky are helping.

August 10

Buy now or wait? What the new electric vehicle credits mean for you.

August 10

How a four-day workweek could be better for the climate

August 8

Nature can affect human well-being in many more ways than you think

August 5

Lifeguard drones can save lives. But U.S. beaches might not buy them.

August 6

Fighter pilots will don augmented reality helmets for training

August 4

Surgeons use virtual reality techniques to separate conjoined twins

August 3

Slowly but surely, robots will wind up in our clothes

July 29

Climate change is killing more elephants than poaching, Kenyan officials say

July 28

A sailfish leaped out of the sea and stabbed a woman in the groin

July 25

Officer fatally shot 15-foot snake that was strangling man, police say

July 21

A camper scared off a bear — then the grizzly came back and killed her

July 19