The year of 2017 was pretty eventful, a mix of good and bad things. Reflecting on the good, there didn’t seem to be a lot of it, but people forgot it did happen. There were good things!

On Monday, August 21st, kids were welcomed back to school with an eclipse. The first American eclipse since 1979. The majority of the world could experience this fascinating encounter.

After the famous trend of the ice bucket challenge, tons of money was raised and in 2017 and an Israeli scientists at Ben-Gurion University found a way to stop the cells; it appears he found a cure for the rare lethal disease called ALS.

In the past year, a world record was broken. Peggy Whitson has broken a record in the past, but just this year she was the first woman to command the International Space Station and hold the record for the woman with the most cumulative “extra-vehicular” time. earning the longest time a human has been out of a space vehicle in outer space.

When disaster struck, many people helped others and it was a time for compassion. Hurricane Harvey affected many lives and caused millions of dollars in damage. People aren’t just affected in disasters, animals are as well. This past year Southwest Airlines stepped in to help animals all over the state that were stuck in animal shelters; they flew animals from Houston to San Diego and rescued more than 60 of the furry friends. Later naming the operation “Operation Pets Alive!”

A new invention arose in 2017 and it was a spray gun, a gun that shoots stem cells onto burn victims to regrow their skin without scars. A company named RenovaCare developed a solution for burn victims, where they shoot victims with their own stem cells and the cells help the affected skin. It has proven successful for patients around the world.

A huge act of kindness took place in Indiana when a wedding went wrong but, oddly, had a happy ending. A woman who had been planning her dream wedding for two years suddenly got cancelled a week before she had to walk down the aisle. Unfortunately, the $30,000 she had put into the preparation could not be refunded. Instead of putting the money to waste, she had a great idea of giving it to the homeless. Throwing out hundreds of food on the table would be a waste to people who needed it so she then decided to invite residents of local homeless shelters to a formal dinner.

These happy stories may have been lost in the consistently bad news that we are bombarded with, but if you look hard enough, there is always something good.