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HeartwarmingMoment: Real Life |
Who said that the most beautiful moments only happen in fiction?
- Jackie Robinson's entry into baseball. Before you move this to the Sports section, realize that this watershed event has implications far beyond baseball or even sports. Now, it's clearly a CMoAwesome but why heartwarming you ask? Because even though Robinson put up with racial abuse that was extreme even by 1947 standards there are numerous examples that not all Humans Are Bastards. Some highlights...
- Some of the Brooklyn Dodgers stated that they would not play with a black man. Team owner Branch Rickey and manager Leo Durocher both stated whoever didn't want to play with Robinson could "pack their shit and take a trade."
- Jewish ballplayer Hank Greenberg, no stranger to racial abuse, actually gave Robinson a quick pep talk and basically told him to beat the bigots "on the field".
- Robinson teammate Pee Wee Reese went out and put his arm around Robinson's shoulder during one home game when the abuse was nearly unbearable.
- Phillies manager Ben Chapman specifically incited his team to chant "nigger" at Robinson during the games they played against the Dodgers and insinuated that their pitchers would aim for Robinson's head. The Dodgers as a team indirectly let it be known that any attack on Robinson, no matter how little, would be swiftly settled both on the field and off.
- Ringo Starr once decided the Beatles didn't need him, so he left. The band almost immediately flew over to get him back, and George Harrison decorated his drum set with flowers as a welcome-back surprise.
- Ringo's book "Postcards from the Boys" provides a lot of heartwarming moments between the Beatles—including the flower thing. He mentions that he was filming a movie, and George was supposed to have a part in it. George broke his ankle or something, and couldn't be in the movie, but flew over and hung out on set with Ringo anyway.
- The Christmas truces
 of World War One.
- Having come in a few months after the event, this particular troper finds the page chronicling the frenzied conversation immediately following the Great Crash to be bizarrely heartwarming. All those tropers, working toward one noble goal... *sniff*
- This is a bit of a stretch, but reading these lists as a whole is one giant Crowning Moment of Heartwarming. That's right, Crowning Moment of Heartwarming is its own Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
- This troper feels it works as a Real Life Tear Jerker as well.
- Actually, yes, it does. This Troper actually bust out crying (manly tears!) after reading the Schindler's List ending on the Film examples. This list is heartwarming all by its own damn self.
- This troper agrees as well. She has started wibbling over things she hasn't even ever seen or heard of on these lists, just because it's so heartwarming.
- Tank Man, AKA the Unknown Rebel. A single man displaying heroism and bravery that belong to the best of comic books or movies, only in real life. It's a touching, inspiring moment, showing humanity at its absolute best.
- Similar photo◊ from the 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia shows a bare-chested man facing a tank.
- Matt Harding of "Where the Hell is Matt?" fame's latest video. The sight of so many people all over the world dancing brought this troper to tears of laughter.
- Tears of laughter, hell; this troper gets a huge lump in his throat at the India section at 2:33 in the video. I've made a point to not watch the video more than once every two weeks, because I don't want that feeling to become diminished by overplaying it.
- If the sheer amount of joy displayed in this video doesn't make you feel just a little bit better about humanity in general, nothing ever will.
- Azrael's story about a homemade owl given to him for his birthday brings this troper close to tears every time he reads it.
- Speaking of the sheer awesomeness of Boston-based fandoms: This Troper attended the New Kids On The Block "Homecoming" concert at the TD Banknorth Garden last night. The guys have stated that they expected their reunion, after a fifteen year hiatus, would be, at most, popular with the few remaining dedicated fans and they probably had a vague suspicion that the Boston show would be popular. But it became absolutely clear that they had no idea HOW dedicated the fandom has been all this time during the point in the show when Donnie was trying to finish a monologue introducing the next song... And he was having a very hard time doing so because he was moved to tears by the audience: hundreds and hundreds of fans, many bringing along their children, not so much cheering as hitting octaves not heard since 1990, and wearing their lovingly preserved classic concert shirts, hats, giant buttons, and so on. Talk about "I'll Be Loving You Forever"!
- At the finale of the Wembly Stadium performances of Live Aid, Sir Bob Geldof being lifted up to thunderous applause, acknowledging him as a Big Damn Hero.
- Even the vile fictional Joker can lead to a beautiful true life moment. This troper was so impressed by Heath Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight that a few days after she first saw it, she went to look for fan sites for him (having not paid much attention to him before). She discovered Chelsea Grin, which had been established by excited fans July 2007 to anticipate/celebrate his Joker...fans who thus faced the sorrow and media frenzy of his death in January '08. On the one-year anniversary of the site's formation - before the film opened - they posted a page of reflections. This troper's heart melted first for their tenderness, second for their faith in his talent being borne out... and how.
- In the anthology Tell Me No Lies: Investigative Journalism and its Triumphs, journalist John Pilger describes how, the day after his documentary Cambodia: Year Zero was broadcast in the UK, the filmmakers were inundated with letters with donations from members of the public who were shocked at the plight of Cambodian orphans depicted in the film. People who wouldn't have been able to find Cambodia on a map the day before sent money to complete strangers so that other complete strangers would have their suffering relieved. Some of the donors sent the equivalent of a month's salary, based on one 50-minute film.
- Actor Colin Farrell was once in Toronto shooting a movie when a local radio station held a competition with a prize of $2,000 for anyone who could bring Farrell to the studio. Farrell heard about the competition, and found a homeless guy on the street and brought him into the studio to claim the prize. A few years later, Farrell was in Toronto again and found that the homeless guy (known as "Stress") was still on drugs and on the streets; he took him shopping, bought him over $2,000 worth of clothes and household goods, gave him $830 to cover first and last months' rent on an apartment, and gave him a heartfelt talk about addiction counselling. A year later, Stress is still sober and still off the streets.
- The German legend of the Castle of the Faithful Wives gets this troper every time.
- The entire city of New York (actually the whole country) uniting as never before at the 9-11 attacks.
- Actually the whole WORLD, more or less.
- Also, when the Northeast Blackout cut out power to almost everyone in New York City, this troper expected massive rioting, death, and destruction. He was almost brought to tears when he saw that instead, most of the city supported each other and united to help each other through the event.
- The "Free Hugs Campaign" video.
- Team Hoyt, a father and son duo that participates marathons, triathlons, and other such events.
- Several evangelical Christian groups in America criticised Sponge Bob Square Pants for advocating homosexuality after a video featuring SpongeBob was supported by the We Are Family Foundation (coincidence), who supports gay rights. Although Stephen J. Hillenburg said SpongeBob was asexual, John H. Thomas, the United Church of Christ's general minister and president, said the United Church would welcome SpongeBob into their ministry:
"Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we."
- Whether you like the Catholic Church or not, it cannot be denied that Pope John Paul the Second broke many old conventions, traveled the world as no other Pope ever had, spoke to World Leaders about peace, treated leaders of others religions as equals, and -in a posthumous Crowning Moment of Heartwarming- brought all of them together for his funeral.
- The Furry Fandom got one of these in 2005. One major furry convention, Mephit Furmeet, was the weekend after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, and there were waves of refugees throughout the southeast, including those who made it to Memphis. As the hotel filled up beyond breaking point with both furries and refugees, something had to give — and it was the congoers who gave, in spades. Congoers who had paid for their rooms months in advance gave up their rooms to people who didn't have much money on them, artists and fursuiters hammed it up for the kids, and in general, an entire convention full of furries did whatever they could to help the displaced.
- The same thing happened in 2008, in the wake of Hurricane Gustav.
- Speaking of Katrina, the fine folks of Radio KoL held a 24-hour telethon (hosted by one guy and a small tropical island's worth of coffee) to raise money for relief charities. Not only did they raise over six grand by themselves, the game designers (two guys who themselves rely on donations to keep the game running) matched the whole pot. End result? $26,792 total. From one day.
- Here's another Katrina story a friend of this editor's recently heard at a Left Forum. When a group of women living in one of the poorest slums of Uganda heard about Katrina, they raised $1,000 dollars by breaking and selling rocks, then contacted the U.S. Embassy to Uganda, offering the $1,000 as relief money for the victims.
- When Heath Ledger died, his will was an older one, so his daughter wasn't in it. He had been in the middle of filming the movie "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus." Instead of having to refilm everything, the character was made into a shapeshifter, with Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell coplaying the main character. All three actors have agreed to give the money they make from the movie to Ledger's daughter, Matilda.
- Equally heartwarming was Heath Ledger's parents' vow that they would ignore his will and make sure that his entire estate would go to the daughter and not to them.
- This Troper felt warm and fuzzy but also rather sad when Daniel Day-Lewis dedicated his Screen Actors' Guild award for Best Actor (for There Will Be Blood) to Heath Ledger, even though he'd never met Ledger.
- In a similar vein: Ving Rhames, upon winning the 1998 Golden Globe award for best actor over his amazing portrayal as Don King in 'Only in America', asked Jack Lemmon (who had also been nominated) to come up on stage and then presented the award to him, telling Jack that he deserved the award more. Ving refused to take it back, and Lemmon kept it til he died.
- The lack of Fred "Mr." Rogers on this thread is disappointing to sum it up his whole life
- This fairly cynical, white Canadian troper can't be the only one who teared up a little bit during Obama's Election Night speech about the 106-year old daughter of slaves voting for him, looking back on all that's happened over the past century and how some things have actually changed for the better.
- This fairly cynical, white Canadian troper swore up and down that she wouldn't get all warm and fuzzy and teary-eyed over American politics no matter what happened... a resolve that she broke repeatedly and wholeheartedly after hearing countless stories of strangers hugging one another in the streets and screaming with joy. What do you say to that?
- This troper, who is also white and fairly cynical (although Australian), considers the speeches of Obama and McCain that night to be the turning point in the entire world's sliding scale.
- This troper wholeheartedly agrees on that. Even John McCain's concession speech rocked—it was just so damn classy!
- Yet another white and cynical troper, but this time from the United States (the Southern part, mind), was touched. However, considering he voted for Obama and was hoping for his win ever since he got the nomination (Obama was his second choice after Mike Gravel), it isn't that big of a surprise.
- This white, anarcho-syndicalist troper (idealistic about people, cynical about centralized positions of power) couldn't quite help smiling on Election Night. (Also voted for Obama, on the lesser evil principle.) This troper would also submit Obama's "More perfect union" speech. The editor has it on good authority that their father cried while watching it.
- The celebrating crowd in Ebenezer Baptist Church (Reverend King's church), and the various middle-aged black men crying with joy.
- This troper actually started crying when she read about the huge support many World of Warcraft players paid to the Make A Wish Foundation, all in the memory of a certain boy named Ezra. From the forums; and here's the skinny on Big Red Kitty's Running of the Bulls event to support the cause; hop around the blog for what happened on the day.
- Some years ago, the surviving members of the "Rats of Tobruk" (an association of Australian World War 2 veterans) decided that they were now too old and too few to continue maintaining the association's clubhouse. So they decided to sell the clubhouse (including all of its priceless memorabilia) with the intention of donating all the money from the sale to charity. The charity they picked was one that helped children afflicted with cancer, and in this manner they hoped - for one last time - that they could help ensure a brighter future for the younger generation.
- This story, in itself, was incredibly heart-warming on its own, but it took an even more incredible turn soon thereafter: Initially, property developers wanted to tear down the clubhouse and put a residential building in its place. However, when a rich businessman heard about the story he immediately paid almost double the price of the property, outbidding all other takers. After giving the money to the charity, the businessman then told the astonished veterans that "You can keep using it as long as you want. My debt to you can never be repaid."
- Fittingly, the "Rats of Tobruk" were survivors of an eigth-month siege in the desert, against one of the greatest Germans Generals of the war (Rommel). Their motto was two simple words: "No Surrender". They still haven't.
- During the unveiling of the World War 2 memorial in the US, two aging veterans found themselves meeting two busloads of children on a field trip. The children, without hesitation, stood up as one and applauded.
- In the early 1800's, Beethoven, nearing the end of his life, composed and conducted the 9th symphony for the first time in front of a great audience. He had put his blood, sweat and tears into that song, and managed to finish it despite his deafness. Upon finishing the symphony, he looked out and the instrumentalists had tears in their eyes. His friend tapped him on the shoulder, and when Beethoven turned around he saw a mass crowd giving him a standing ovation.
- I think it's mentioned in Western Animation, but when the Marquis de Lafayette was wounded at Brandywine — basically, a rich kid fighting another country's war, just because he thought it was the right thing to do — His Excellency Gen. George Washington took his personal physician aside and said, "Treat him as though he were my son." Made all the more heartwarming because Lafayette's father died in war when he was a baby and Washington was childless (although he loved his wife's children and grandchildren, and had several proteges). Reading a biography of Lafayette will provide plenty of such moments between them, though.
- America would never really forget Lafayette's contribution to their War of Independence, which would be epitomized by an event more than a century later. The year was 1917, and France was at the brink of being beaten by Germany during the First World War. When the United States entered the war in support of France, the Germans scoffed at the American intervention, claiming that the Americans would never come. Instead, the America would literally send millions of soldiers over the Atlantic, defying the Germany's attempt to stop them using their U-boats. To quote the historian John Keegan: Germany's "They shall never come" was trumped in six months by America's melodramatic "Lafayette, I am here!"
- Even before America officially entered the war, there were American pilots fighting in a company named after Lafayette.
- Lafayette also earned the name "The Soldier's Friend" from the Revolutionary army. At one point, after hearing that several of his men were planning to desert, he called them all together and told them that he would write an excuse note for any man who wanted to leave, so that they wouldn't be prosecuted. He paid, out of his own pocket, for the uniforms of every man under him.
- The Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetary, commemorating all the U.S. soldiers who died without having their remains identified. A single sentinel guards the tomb. He doesn't wear any rank insignia, so that he never outranks the unknown soldier. The tomb is guarded 24/7 in all weather (including, at least once, a hurricane) and has been, continuously, since 1937.
- There are actually several Tombs of the Unknowns in the United States, each commemorating a different war - with the exception of Vietnam. They identified the body in 1998 and were able to finally send him home to his family. The Vietnam memorial now contains the inscription "Honoring and Keeping Faith with America's Missing Servicemen" - a promise to all the missing soldiers that they too, someday, can finally come home.
- The original memorial for the "Unknowns" is in Westminster Abbey in Britain, commemorating the British dead of the First World War. It contains the inscription "They buried him among the Kings, because he had done good toward God and toward his House." When the memorial was unveiled, the guests of honor were 100 women who had lost their husband and all their sons during the war. It is the only tombstone in the Abbey on which it is forbidden to walk.
- As a sign of friendship, the Americans would also award the British Unknown Warrior with the Medal of Honor, their highest award for bravery. The British would reciprocate, awarding the American Unknown soldier with the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest award for bravery.
- For years, there was an "Unknown Child" from the Titanic. It was the body of a baby boy recovered by the crew of the cable ship Mackay-Bennett. The crew were so upset by the fact that no one came to claim the boy that they took him as one of their own, paying for his funeral and putting him atop Fairview Cemetery in Halifax. In the early 2000s, a team of scientists was dispatched to the cemetery to try and identify all of the unknown bodies recovered from the famous ship. They were shocked to find that there were still fresh flowers on the child's grave - the Mackay-Bennet's crew, their descendents, and the people of Halifax were still taking care of the boy nine decades hence.
- And the scientists DID manage to identify the boy, the only one out of all the unknown bodies from the Titanic in the cemetery. All the other bodies had withered away because of flooding - except for the boy's because it was on top of the hill. Even then only one tiny fragment of bone was recovered from the boy - which only survived because of a bronze cherub amulet that shielded it from decomposition. The amulet had been placed there by the crew of the Mackay-Bennet during the funeral. Still, the tiny piece of bone yielded enough DNA to provide a positive identification. One of the astonished scientists could only choke out: "Someone really wanted us to know who this child is."
- James Doohan. the actor who played Scotty in the original Star Trek, once received a letter from a fan. Reading it, he realized that the letter was unmistakably a suicide note. He immediately contacted the letter-writer and asked her to come to a convention he'd be appearing at in two weeks...and at the end of that convention, invited her to another one...and then another one. This went on quite some time, with Doohan personally inviting her to convention after convention, until eventually, she stopped showing up. Doohan had failed to save the envelope from her letter, and heard nothing more of it for eight years. Then, out of the blue, he received another letter from the fan-she'd just received her masters in electrical engineering, and wanted to thank him for the kindness he'd shown.
- Church Holds Funeral For 14th-Century Witch. Six years ago, in the Southern England town of Hoo, a construction dig unearthed the body of a decapitated woman. Tests showed that it was a girl no older than fourteen, who had probably been shamed and condemned as a witch before her entire village, and then beheaded, probably in the 1300s. The vicar of the local Anglican church, "felt a need to give her what had clearly been denied to her all those years ago," and held a proper funeral for her at St. Werburgh's Church. Some 200 mourners attended the service.
- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the first president of the Republic of Turkey, was also the victor of the Battle of Gallipoli during the First World War. He had inflicted a quarter of a million casualties on the British, Australian, French, and New Zealand soldiers that had invaded his country, but in doing so lost even more men in the process. Yet, after the war, he supported the effort to create war memorial for the fallen Allied troops. He also renamed one of the battlefields as "ANZAC Cove", as it has become a virtual shrine for the surviving relatives of the Australian and New Zealand dead. Still, all of these acts of magnanimity could not be topped by speech he would compose for the mothers of the fallen soldiers; one so heart-warming that the Australian government chose it for its own war memorial in Sydney. He said:
"You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears... Having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."
- When otters want to float on the water for a long time (for example, when they sleep), they hold hands. Otters literally hold hands.
- Four words: I Have a Dream.
- Apparently this made Demi Moore cry, I know I was close to tears. here.
- The evacuation of the Jews in Denmark during World War 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_of_the_Danish_Jews
- The Danes get a Crowning Moment Of Awesome for saving Danish Jews and resisting Nazi oppression (mostly nonviolently) for four years, but they earned another Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming after the war. General Dr. Werner Best and General Hermann von Hanneken, the two highest Nazi officials in Denmark during the war, went on trial for ordering brutal acts of counter-sabotage against the Danes and for deporting Danish Jews. Both were found guilty, with von Hanneken receiving a sentence of eight years imprisonment and Best getting the death penalty. Both appealed. I'll let A Force More Powerful explain the rest: "Best's sentence was reduced to five years and General von Hanneken was set free. Resistance had not made the Danes incapable of leniency."
- In early 1943, the SS and the Gestapo initiated "the Final Roundup," snatching all the remaining Jews in Berlin with the intention of putting them in the concentration camps. They did not however, collect non-Jewish spouses, and soon after the roundup began, a small group of German women visited the Jewish communiy's administration building at Rosenstrasse 2-4, wanting to see their Jewish husbands. They were rebuffed. This sparked a wave of protests at Rosenstrasse which so embarrassed (and frightened) the Nazis that they let the Jews with non-Jewish wives free. In May of that year, Himmler's deputy released all intermarried Jews from the camps.
- The North African campaign between the German Africa Korps and the British 8th Army during World War 2 was often called "The Gentleman's War", for the unbelievable gallantry displayed by both sides. To demonstrate, a British soldier was critically wounded during the Battle of El Alamein. He was brought to a British field hospital, and found himself lying beside a German prisoner who had also been critically wounded. He reached out and squeezed the German soldier's hand. The German soldier squeezed back. He lost consciousness and woke up the next morning, and found that his German companion was gone. When he asked what happened to the man beside him, the doctor simply replied "He died during the night. You were still holding hands."
- When the Nazis invaded a Greek island, they went to the mayor and the bishop, who were both Eastern Orthodox Christians and told them "Write down the names of all the Jews on this island and give them to us." A few days later, the mayor and bishop come back and hand over a paper with only two names written on it- THEIR NAMES. The bishop then says "If you want to take them, you have to take us, too."
- The contributions and sacrifices of atheist soldiers are often overlooked because of their minority status. This memorial was made to help remind the world of their sacrifice and service, lest we forget.
- The memorial is partly based from the often-used WW 2 quote "There are no atheists in foxholes. This is not meant to be an insult against atheists. It's meant to be an insult against foxholes." Conditions in the foxholes were so bad that many soldiers found themselves changed by the experience, and formed bonds with complete strangers closer than brothers. It didn't matter if you were a Jew, a Protestant, a Catholic, an Atheist, a Buddhist, or whatever. In the WW 2 US Army, as long as you shared a foxhole with someone, that person is going to be willing to die for you.
- No matter what your politics, this is pretty intense. (About 50 seconds in.)
- This video, particularly the last 30 seconds, in which William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy reminisce. Including Shatner admitting wonderingly, "I really, really liked it. I liked the show!" and Nimoy telling Shatner, "You're my best friend," after which they both agree that, "If nothing else, this [their friendship] made it worthwhile."
- We've come this far and nobody's mentioned Denmark's role in World War II yet? That's one of the biggest Crowning Moment of Heartwarming FULL STOPS in history. Consider this. A small country, not very powerful, shares its only land border with Germany, headquarters of the Nazi party and anti-Jewish movement. Denmark was not neutral- it was occupied, and complied peacefully with Germany to the point that Hitler declared Denmark the model that all occupied countries should aspire to. But when the police came to round up Danish Jews, the people of Denmark, including political officials and the king, banded together and made sure that 99% of Danish Jews survived the Holocaust. The ones that were sent to camps were sent almost entirely to a camp in Czechoslovakia, where the Danish Red Cross was stationed to monitor the health and conditions for not just the Danish Jews, but for every person in the camp. Full. Bloody. Stop.
- For a particularly ancient example, this text inscribed on the tomb of a British royal guard: Catuvellaunorix bathbanay acorrius cagoran, King of the Catuvellauni, I am dead. I hope it was enough.
You Tube
Sports
- On Monday Night Football, after the death of his father, Packers QB Brett Favre went and played one of the best games of his career against the Oakland Raiders. No, that wasn't the heartwarming part. The Raider Nation, known for their booing of the other team, gave the opposing quarterback a standing ovation.
- When Colt McCoy was injured by a late hit from Texas A&M's Kellen Heard and managed to get his hand up for a Hook 'Em as he was being stretchered out of the stadium. It is one of only two times when this longtime Aggie willingly joined in with said hand sign.
- January 2007: The Boise State Broncos had just capped one of the greatest games and biggest upsets in college football history, taking down Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, 43-42 in overtime. Fullback Ian Johnson, who had scored the winning two-point conversion, put a bow on the night by proposing, on national TV, to his cheerleader girlfriend. They were married that June. Of course, because Humans Are Bastards, they had to have police guards at the wedding, due to the dismaying amounts of threats the couple received objecting to their marriage. (She's white, he's black).
- It's still a happy ending...both families issued statements that ignorant bigots were NOT going to ruin this moment. They were supported by the school and people across the nation.
- During a softball game between Central Washington University and Western Oregon University, WOU senior Sara Tucholsky hit the only home run of her career. But after rounding first (and returning to retouch the bag), she tore the ACL in her right knee. The umpires stated that WOU could not assist Tucholsky in rounding the bases, so two Central players picked her up and carried her around the bases. By the time they reached home plate, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. That moment was named "Best Sports Moment Of The Year" at the 2008 ESPYs. Watch it here
- Speaking of sports, the entire Red Sox team forming a gigantic Group Hug after finally winning the World Series after all those years.
- Topping that for this Troper was hearing that the first person many of the players called following the final game was former Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner, who had long been the subject of ridicule for having made the fielding error which cost the Red Sox their last shot at the World Series in 1986.
- Not to mention all those accounts of fans across New England leaving 2004 World Series memorabilia at the graves of loved ones who never got to see their beloved Red Sox win a championship.
- Plus Red Sox outfielder Trot Nixon saying that he would have given up Boston's dramatic Game 7 ALCS victory over the Yankees to prevent the death of Victoria Snelgrove, the college student who was killed during the post-game riots.
- Let's just put everything about the 2004 Red Sox-heck, maybe the Red Sox in general-in as a CMOH/CMOA and call it a day.
- Two Words: Derek Redmond. The man who joins him on the track is his father.
- At a 2003 NBA game between the Portland Trailblazers (home team) and the Dallas Mavericks, 13-year-old Natalie Gilbert was singing the national anthem when she suddenly stopped, having forgotten the words. Trailblazers head coach Maurice "Mo" Cheeks then rushed to the young girl's aid and they finished singing the anthem together (with the crowd helping out as well).
- Who says no one in America cares about the WBC?
- During the 2008-09 season, the entire Chicago Blackhawks team skips out on a day of rest to be with their GM at his late father's wake. To top it off, they make a stop at a small town McDonalds. It almost went un-noticed until someone emailed a host of a NHL show on XM Radio, in which it finally got noticed and the story received the treatment it deserved.
- John Landy. The second man in the world to run the four-minute mile and the runner-up in the "Race of the Century" in 1954 - but his heartwarming moment comes two years later. He was running in the 1956 Australian national championships, when ahead of him the pack clipped young runner Ron Clarke, who fell to the ground. Forced to attempt to jump over him, Landy didn't quite make it - he injured Clarke's arm with his running spikes. In the middle of the race, Landy then stopped and turned back - giving up the chance to reclaim his world record - picked up Clarke and helped him to his feet, apologising in the meantime for hitting his arm. There is a statue of Landy helping Clarke near Olympic Park in Melbourne; it is titled simply "Sportsmanship". What makes this a Crowning Moment Of Awesome as well is that once Clarke was back on his feet, Landy then set off to chase down the pack, now 30 yards ahead of him... and won the race anyway.
- In 1997, the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup, breaking a 42 year drought, sending the city into a frenzy of celebration. Six days later, defenceman Vladimir Konstantinov suffered permanent brain damage in a car accident. The team dedicated the next season to their teammate and won the Stanley Cup again. Tradition states that at the cup raising ceremony, the captain receives the cup, hoists it, and hands it to the team's most valuable player. Wings captain Steve Yzerman took the cup, raised it in the air and then gently placed it in Konstantinov's lap. Konstantinov had been brought onto the ice in his wheelchair to be with the team. The whole team gathered around and wheeled him around the ice in a victory lap holding the Stanley Cup.
- De Kalb high school's Darius Mc Neal's two free throws.
Other
- How can we forget the doctors and nurses during the SARS period? Living, sleeping in wards and corridors, unable to see their families, facing an unknown and uncurable disease, yet never giving up and skipping town.
- When Viz Media, Naruto's distributors, announced they would start streaming it on their official site, Dattebayo announced that they would stop subbing Shippuuden the day that happened. They gave the reason they decided this was because Viz always turned a blind eye to them; once the streaming started, they'd have to send a C&D letter, which Dattebayo really didn't think they'd want to do, and plus announcing that they were told to stop would turn Dattebayo's fans against Viz, which they didn't feel Viz deserved. The heartwarming part came from the fans; Naruto fans, a group infamous for being more rabid than Old Yeller, started sending praise mail to Dattebayo saying that, even though they're upset DB isn't subbing it anymore, they still applaud them for putting themselves aside for the benefit of anime fans in general.
- The story of Noh: http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Noh
- Proof that even such horrid popular culture conflicts as the Console Wars can produce a moment of sheer heartwarming glory: D'aaaaaaaaww...
- The British documentary series Secret Millionaire (in which millionaires merge into struggling communities to provide not only one-off financial contributions, but continual aid) is just one big, constant, Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming. I dare you to watch it without choking up.
- Dr. Seuss' The Lorax originally had the fish, chased out of their lake by pollution, say that "I hear things are just as bad up in Lake Erie". But "People indeed cared a whole awful lot,/ And worked very hard, and better it got." (to paraphrase the book's ending) - and so Dr. Seuss removed the line.
- Tweenbots. As a social experiment, someone decided to make adorable fragile robots that could only move in straight lines, then set them loose in Washington Square Park in New York City, with a explanation and destination on a little flag above their heads. She didn't expect any of them to reach their destination, let alone survive. As to what actually happened... Well, just watch the video.
- Helen Keller, despite being blind, deaf and mute, manages not only to learn how to communicate through sign language, but also earned a bachelor of arts degree, and goes on to becomes a prominent writer and social activist. If that does not describe the strength of the human spirit, I don`t know what does.
- This video of a dog risking his/her life to drag another dog to safety after the other dog had been hit by a car. The hero dog apparently ran off and disappeared somewhere after the incident, but that doesn't make it any less touching.
- It is said that once while Alexander the Great was ill he received a letter saying that his doctor was in the pay of his enemies and was going to poison him. When his doctor came in with a cup of medicine Alexander took the cup, drank from it, and handed the doctor the letter. Alexander said something like "I do not know anything about medicine, but I do know people, and I know that you would never betray me." Alexander recovered from his illness a few weeks later.
- Heart burn. Indigestion and upset stomach not so much, and definetly not...that.
- A frumpy-looking, stout woman stepped on-stage on Britain's Got Talent, and announced that she wanted to be a professional singer. Many in the audience, even the judges, began to laugh at the thought, seeing the woman's appearance. Then she began to sing. She then got the highest approval rating of the show in three years. This troped shed a tear seeing her shock and excitement at the result.
- Connie Talbot. Google her. You Tube her. I dare you.
- You might not expect Not Always Right.com, a site with many examples of how customers mistreat employees, to have an example here, but this story definitely qualifies.
- This troper is constantly amazed by the sheer joy on the faces of the unsuspecting crowd in this video.
- This video of 2 baby kittens being rescued from a storm drain.
- This one. Not cinematic trickery.
- This troper just saw a news story showed how a banker helped a family of ducks off a high ledge to the river, first catching the ducklings as they jumped off the edge, then leading them through crowds all the way to the river. It's equal parts sweet and heartwarming.
- Operation: Little Vittles. An American pilot was taking a walk around a starved Berlin during the Airlift, when he was approached by a bunch of German kids. He told them he was a cargo plane pilot, then gave them his chocolate bar and promised he would drop some more. When they asked him how they would recognize him, he said "I'll wiggle my wings". On his next flight, he smuggled some candy inside his plane, and after dropping off the food, he tilted his plane back and forth, then dropped the candy. After a few times of doing this, an officer heard about it, and while his initial reaction was him getting pissed off, his superior ordered a massive drop-off of candy in Berlin. In short: the NATO Army was dropping off candy for the kids ^_^
- It helped that the allies started getting mail addressed to "Uncle Wiggly Wings".
- The pilot, Gail Halvorsen, was a native of Salt Lake City, Utah. During the Parade of Nations in the Opening Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics, Halvorsen was invited to hold the title placard for the German athletes as they entered the stadium.
- Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. They pick a family, send them on vacation, and in the timespan of a mere week they rebuild their house from scratch, all for free. The show delivers a CMOH at the end of each episode, when the family gets to see their new shining home and the crew who worked so hard for them.
- The day after John Glenn orbited the Earth, he came home extremely tired after visiting the President and the like. His fan mail was piling up and the phone was ringing off the hook, but as he walked in the door, Glenn noticed that someone had picked up some groceries for his wife and brought them inside. In the bags, there was a carton of eggs that would expire the next day. Obviously, they couldn't eat them all, and he didn't want to waste the food, so Glenn dropped everything and took the eggs to his church so they could be given to the poor before coming home to answer his calls and mail. That, my friends, is a hero.
- This site, called Gives Me Hope.
Y'know... maybe people aren't that bad after all...
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