Check It Out: Kindness and courage are a light in a tunnel of darkness
By Joan Janzen
I read a note that said, “Whoever stole my antidepressants—I hope you’re happy now!” The joyful season of hospitality, giving, and kindness is coming to a close; however, those selfless acts of kindness and courage are desperately needed throughout the entire year.
Two heroic, selfless acts took place in mid-December at a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach in Australia, where a tragic shooting occurred. A 43-year-old man put his life at risk in order to save others. It was just an ordinary day for the fruit seller, who was having lunch with a friend when the shooting broke out, and his ordinary day became extraordinary.
A televised video shows the father of two running towards one of the shooters. He’s then seen disarming the gunman before pointing his weapon back at him, prompting him to walk away.
This hero is not a member of the Jewish community, yet he risked his safety to stop one of the shooters and prevent further loss of life. He was taken to hospital and treated for bullet wounds. Instead of running away, he ran toward danger, and his courage saved many lives.
This adult male wasn’t the only hero in the crowd. A 14-year-old girl also risked her life for people she didn’t know. She and her friend had been at the petting zoo when they heard shooting and people shouting, “Get down!” The two girls quickly found a place to hide.
There was a pause in the shooting, and during that time the girl saw two preschool-aged children in front of her and their mother lying beside them with a bullet wound, crying out for someone to save her children.
Without pausing to think, the girl ran out and threw herself on top of the two children, talking to them to calm them down and cleaning the blood off their faces. “I was telling them I love them so much,” the teen said in an interview.
The shooting resumed, and the girl was shot in her thigh, but she kept covering the children, phoned her dad, and stayed there until her dad came to rescue them. “In that moment, it felt like we were all brothers and sisters,” the teenaged girl said.
After her surgery, she kept telling the doctors how much she loved them. She was surrounded by family and was so grateful for all the support. “God put me on this earth for a reason, so why not share good with others,” she said. “At that time, everyone around me was like light in a tunnel of darkness.”
Although their bravery was heroic, older generations aren’t optimistic. Dr. Suneel Dhand asked his 106-year-old patient if he thought the world was better or worse than when he was growing up. “When I ask the question, some people hesitate, but he didn’t hesitate at all,” Dr. Dhand observed.
“The world is far worse now than when I was growing up,” the senior replied. “Basically, people don’t take care of each other anymore. When I was young, there was a strong sense of commitment to family, to community. People tended to look out for one another. There was a strong sense of duty.”
It’s somewhat surprising that this man would say the present world is worse than the one he recalls from his past. He lived through two world wars, fought in one, survived the Great Depression, and an era when transportation and everyday tasks were time-consuming, often requiring much physical labour.
“I would rather be around now than 100 years ago when I would have been forced to fight in a trench,” Dr. Dhand observed. “I don’t think that the world today is worse, but I agree the sense of duty has been completely lost. Those people had very strong values and a sense of commitment and duty. We’ve moved from that to a generation of entitlement.”
He said we have a generation where many are asking, “What am I owed simply for showing up?”
The comments written in response to Dr. Dhand’s commentary about his elderly patient were very interesting. A healthcare worker remembered a woman who had abdominal surgery at the age of 106. At age 110, she returned after breaking her hip.
“She had a rough time but made it back to the nursing home where she liked to play piano for the ‘old’ people,” the woman commented. A newspaper article was written about her when she turned 113, at which time she said, “I think they’re keeping me around for their amusement.”
At the close of 2025, long-time actor Dick Van Dyke celebrated his 100th birthday. He said his secret to a long life was singing every morning.
Acts of kindness are motivated by a desire to reduce suffering and improve the well-being of others without expecting anything in return. But when you give, you also gain a sense of purpose and fulfillment that you can’t get any other way.
Two social scientists conducted a study that was published in a top-rated journal. The study found that when one person acts generously, it inspires others to act generously toward a wide range of different people, creating a chain of kind acts. We see this play out during the Christmas season, when people are more prone to generosity and kindness, and it begins to spread.
Unlike the 106-year-old patient, not everyone lives a long and happy life. An example is the Jewish girl named Anne Frank, who died at the tender age of 15 at a concentration camp. In her famous diary, she wrote, “Whoever is happy will make others happy too. He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery!”
While we can’t control many of the circumstances that surround us, we can be a “light in a tunnel of darkness.” Kindness, courage, and faith are what combine to ensure our world is better than the world experienced by previous generations.