What's good today?

[Telesfora]

This thread is very general. I created it to share positive events, initiatives, and observations about the world around us. These can be global news stories, but also thoughts and pleasant surprises from more private life.

News for today:

‘We’re winning a battle’: Mexico’s jaguar numbers up 30% in conservation drive

In 2010, Gerardo Ceballos and a group of other researchers set out to answer a burning question: how many jaguars were there in Mexico? They knew there weren’t many. Hunting, loss of habitat, conflict with cattle ranchers and other issues had pushed the population to the brink of extinction.

Ceballos and his team from the National Alliance for Jaguar Conservation (ANCJ) thought there were maybe 1,000 jaguars across the country. They decided to carry out the country’s first census of the animal to find out exactly how many there were. They found 4,100.

“It was a great surprise, terrific news,” Ceballos said. “Obviously 4,000 means the species is still in danger of extinction, but 4,000 is a lot better than 1,000.”

Fast-forward 15 years and the news has got even better. The group’s latest census found that in 2024 there were 5,326 jaguars in Mexico, a 30% increase compared with 2010.

“The fact that the country has managed to maintain and increase its population over the last 14 years is extraordinary,” Ceballos said. “For me it’s great news for the country. Mexico and the world need good news.”

I invite anyone to share your positive stories, thoughts and news!

 

[Telesfora]

Positive news for today:

The extraordinary stories of survivors of the Rwandan genocide who forgave their attackers​

The 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda claimed over a million lives and left deep psychological scars among the Rwandan population, especially those who survived the genocide.

How do people overcome such trauma, especially in poor nations with minimal mental healthcare? In 2005, Dutch sociotherapist Cora Dekker developed an affordable, effective method in collaboration with the diocese of Byumba of the Anglican church. This approach, originally used by qualified staff in western clinics to treat military personnel and asylum seekers, was transformed into volunteer work involving trained therapists from local African communities. In Rwanda it is known as Mvura Nkuvure: “I heal you, you heal me.” More than 64,000 Rwandans have completed the therapy.

The therapy consists of 15 weekly three-hour sessions, with 10 to 15 participants. The first three meetings focus on safety. “During the first, no one feels safe,” says Emmanuel Sarabwe, a trainer and researcher at CBS Rwanda. “Imagine sitting in a circle with family members of the person who killed your brothers and sisters. Or the perpetrator. The discomfort is palpable.”

There is often dancing and singing and games, to keep the atmosphere light. Slowly, the beginning of a group feeling emerges. The next three sessions focus on trust: who do you trust? What inspires trust? The next two phases revolve around care and respect. In the last two, the focus is on directing oneself towards the future rather than the past, but also unearthing positive memories: when did you feel happy? When were you supported? Who were the people good to you?

“Every word, every gesture can be the spark that leads to closeness and healing contact in the group,” Sarabwe says. It helps if perpetrators show genuine remorse and awareness of what they have done, and what pain they have caused. The group listen carefully and one statement recurs: “They have suffered, too.”

The goal of the therapy was to give people tools to cope with trauma, but in many cases much more was achieved—forgiveness and reconciliation. After completing social therapy, 80% of the groups still meet.

 

[Sindy-S.R]

@Telesfora, I got this news, (I hope it's true), a good example to follow!

The head of Ford sent his son to the industry.​

04.10.2025 10:37

Ford's CEO Jim Farley announced that he has placed his 17-year-old son Jameson in a job to learn how to weld. In his statement, Farley said, "I got him a job this summer where he would learn how to weld. This way, he learned to create, what he can achieve with his hands, and to trust people."​

Ford CEO Jim Farley announced that his 17-year-old son Jameson spent his summer vacation learning welding in the industry.

SPENT HIS VACATION IN THE INDUSTRY​

Speaking on the "Decoder" podcast, Farley stated that he wanted his son to gain a different experience during the vacation, saying, "I got him a job where he would learn how to weld. This way, he learned to create, what he can achieve with his hands, and to trust people."

Farley emphasized that this experience opened a new door for his son, stating, "If he becomes the best welder or mechanic working with our super powerful diesel engines one day, I would be very happy as a parent."

"THE FOUNDATION OF THE ECONOMY IS BUILT ON THESE JOBS"​

Farley's remarks came at a time when the labor shortage in skilled trades is a hot topic in the U.S. Ford hosted a CEO summit this week in Detroit, where industry leaders discussed how to improve production.

Highlighting that industrial and labor-intensive professions are vital for society, Farley pointed out many professions, from firefighters to electricians, technicians to factory workers. "When things go wrong, there aren't enough people to save society," Farley continued with the following words:

"Our families and elders built the country through these professions. However, today society does not value these people as much as artificial intelligence engineers."

 

[Telesfora]

In a thread: 4D STO principles it was mentioned that having a good role model and acting in accordance with the right values can increase our chances of achieving greater STO alignment.

Having a Good Role Model: Inspiration and Guidance​

A role model who embodies compassion, integrity, and selflessness shows us the path to a STO life. Whether a teacher, friend, or historical figure, such role models inspire us to transcend ourselves. They remind us that true greatness lies in serving others without self-interest. By emulating their values, we strengthen our own alignment with STO.

Apostles Paul’s list of things to avoid and things to enhance:

• Vices to avoid: fornication, licentiousness, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, envy, drunkenness. Self-conceit, provoking one another, and envy.
• Virtues to enhance: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
• It’s important to have in mind that “Whatsoever a man sows, that will he also reap”, and “let us not grow weary or lose heart." Most important to remember the "sowing" part in the context of your antennae and how your antennae determines your future. If you're not taking care of your inner landscape and the immediate world around you in terms of your group and your associations and so forth, you're screwing up your antenna and then you're going to have a bad future because your antenna will attract the wrong things.

This story reminds me of following these principles:

Life after: being on death row

Anthony Ray Hinton was wrongfully convicted of two murders and spent nearly 30 years on death row. Yet, he didn't grew weary nor he lost his heart.

Hinton spent the next 28 years in a windowless, 5 by 7ft cell. He grew grateful to see the sky once every three months. He studied, and started a book club. He clung to his faith and found solace in flights of imagination: taking tea with the Queen and hitting home runs for the New York Yankees.

On death row, Hinton watched 54 fellow inmates walk past his cell to their deaths in the electric chair, or by lethal injection.

One of them – Henry Hays – had become the most unlikely of best friends in Alabama’s Holman Correctional Facility. Unlikely because Hays was a prominent Ku Klux Klansman convicted of lynching a black man, Michael Donald. Having renounced hate, Hays spent his final few hours in Hinton’s company.

“I didn’t want Henry to think about what was coming at 12 o’clock that night. My task was to make sure he laughed all day, and I think I did a great job,” Hinton recalls. “That’s one thing I loved about the row: even on the most difficult days, we found a reason, and a ‘why’, to laugh.”

EJI lawyer Bryan Stevenson fought for 15 years to have the case reviewed, finally securing Hinton's release on April 3, 2015.

Astonishingly, Hinton has never received an apology – let alone a single cent in compensation – for the three decades he spent inside. And yet he refuses to succumb to anger.

“They didn’t even give me a bus ticket to get home,” says Hinton. “But if I was angry, I’d be giving them too much satisfaction that they broke me. They didn’t break me: they motivated me. I will not allow my emotion to get caught up with what needs to be done, and what needs to be said. I’m going to do that until the day I die.”

He currently devotes his time to helping people who have suffered the same fate.