People Share The Most Wholesome Moments In All Of History

I love a good Aw-Shucks moment....

We are living in one of the darkest times of life. It has seemed for quite sometime that humanity has lost it's way. Every time we turn on the news or check our newsfeed it's bad people and apocalyptic events. That is why it is now more important than ever to remember that good people exist, and humanity is pure at heart. History is flooded with greatness, we just have to dig a little deeper to find it these days.

Redditor u/An_Annoying_Otaku wanted to hear about happier times from humanity's past by asking..... Historians of Reddit, what is the most wholesome moment from history?

Flowers for the Man

shia labeouf flirting GIF by HULUGiphy

At Shanidar Cave, an archaeological site in northern Iraq, a Neanderthal male was buried encircled by flowers.

Over 50,000 years ago we were sentimental.

mindfeces

We also found the skull of one of the relatives to human (can't remember which) that had no teeth. The person the skull belonged to was roughly in its 40's and theres evidence (don't know what) it had no teeth for most of its life. That means that someone had help it eat for decades, probably out of nothing but kindness and love. Turns out kindness is an ancient thing.

Dravos011

Friends

Nobuo Fujita was a Japanese pilot in World War Two. He was the only Axis solider to drop a bomb on the continental United States. He visited the town of Brookings Oregon after the war with the intention of committing Seppuku to atone for his violence. Instead the town befriended him and he even sponsored three students from the town to study abroad in Japan. He donated his families sword to the town and even help to raise funds to build a library in the town. He was made an honorary member of Brookings before his death.

MattHoppe1

To the Water....

During the 9/11 attacks the tunnels and bridges were shut down leaving boats to be the only way on or off the island for the first time in over 100 years. Many of the ferry boats were trying to evacuate lower Manhattan and at one point the coast guard realized that the evacuation needed to get better organized and so they put out the call for any boats that want to help with the evacuation to report to governors island, the response was hundreds of boats, ranging from tug boats, party boats, yachts, speed boats, etc., lining the horizon and showing up to help.

It became the largest Sea Evacuation in history, the only one to come close was the evacuation of Dunkirk during WW2. At Dunkirk 339,000 British and French soldiers were evacuated over the course of a week and on 9/11 over 500,000 civilians were evacuated by boat in just under 9 hours. https://youtu.be/18lsxFcDrjo

Mountai_Man92

just a little...

I don't know if 'wholesome' is really the right word, but when I think of the number of normal people across Europe (including Germans) who risked everything to help Jews/POWs/etc., flee the Nazis, it restores my faith in humanity a bit. They saw the face of evil and acted with courage and empathy.

hockeyjoker

YES QUEENS!

fox tv GIF by loveconnectionfoxGiphy

Mine is the Siege of Weinsberg where the attacking king made a deal for the surrender of the castle stating that the women may leave free and can take with them anything they can carry on their backs.

The women then walked out of the castle with their husbands on their back.

Popular_Chapter

The 3

The 3 men that dived into the highly radioactive pool beneath reactor no. 4 of Chernobyl power plant all survived.

They were tasked to open a valve in the dark basement so that the radioactive waste water can be drained before the melting reactor core can chew through the concrete above the basement.

If these men failed their mission, the molten core would come into contact with the water and instantly cause a steam explosion, contaminating all of Europe.

In short, the 3 men charged in knowing that they most likely wouldn't survive in order to save the rest of Europe.

bustead

Together! 

The Battle of Castle Itter, when a bunch of German soldiers fought alongside US Soldiers to defend a bunch of French prisoners from the SS. If that wasn't enough, this was like two days before the surrender of Germany, so the war in Europe was about to end.

Stoly23

Pardon the Intrusion....

Sorry Jillian Bell GIFGiphy

When Switzerland accidentally invaded Liechtenstein in 2007 and apologized profusely to the Liechtenstein government. They apparently didn't know about it until that moment.

thefemalebuyer

Damnit, thanks for making me cry, Canada!  

When US airspace was grounded on 9/11, 2001, planes coming from across the Atlantic that couldn't turn around were re-routed to airports all across Canada. Air Traffic controllers went into hulk mode in the tiny town of Gander, Newfoundland to suddenly take in 38 wide body planes at its airport carrying 6-7 thousand passengers from over 100 countries, and the people of that town and surrounding fishing villages were like "no big deal we got you" (as Canada does) and set to task.

The town's bus drivers were currently on strike but they put down their signs and started carting passengers to community centers, schools, and churches where residents were working non-stop setting up shelters and making meals, many also hosting strangers in their homes. The bakeries fired up the ovens, the hospital beefed up it's staff, hell people even took care of 17 dogs and cats and 2 GREAT APES that were on the planes.

Town pharmacists got to work helping people get essential medication.

The people of the town even took it upon themselves to treat the guests as tourists and took many of them sightseeing and fishing, etc, because CANADIANS. Many of them became great friends and still keep in touch.

Damnit, thanks for making me cry, Canada!

skier24242

A Truce.

Well Done Applause GIF by MOODMANGiphy

During the US Revolutionary war a British general lost his dog during a battle. It was captured by US forces who tried to give it to general George Washington, who had it groomed and returned to the British under a flag a truce.

During the first Christmas in WW1 many areas of the trenches declared a truce, against the wishes of generals on both sides. It wasn't uniform across the board, but in a lot of places enemies celebrated Christmas together, exchanged gifts, and completely ignored orders to resume fighting until after the holidays.

Waylon88

After 9/11....

The African tribe that donated 14 cows to the US as relief aid after 9/11

The tribe viewed cows as a precious commodity so to willingly donate them was a huge gesture of good will. Honestly, everything the global community did for the US after 9/11 shows that we can all put aside our differences and come together for the common good.

Its said that there is so much hate and violence and it takes a massive tragedy to make people stop and think about their fellow man, insert Hurricane Harvey relief effort here.

Hangman_Matt

We Stand By You

In the days leading up to 9/11, the USS Winston Churchill and the German destroyer Lutjens were moored near to each other in Plymouth, UK. The two crews had got to know each other - visits, sports days, no doubt drinking up the road too...

In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the Churchill was ordered to sea. The safest place for a warship is at sea, with room to maneuver and use its weapons.

After several days at sea, the Churchill received a request from the Lutjens, departing Plymouth. They wanted to pass by close on the port side to say good-bye.

As the German destroyer came close, it became apparent the German crew were manning the rails in dress blues. A traditional naval honor.

They'd prepared a sign. We Stand By You.

The crew of a German destroyer, named for the Admiral who went down with the Bismarck, rendering honors and support to the crew of an American destroyer named for Winston Churchill, in the English Channel.

nousernameusername

Bubbles....

Happy I Love Lucy GIFGiphy

When the allies came to liberate Italy, the citizens busted out champagne since many of their relatives lived in allied countries.

TheInternetPolice2

Normandy

During the Invasion of Normandy 2 medics from the 101st Airborne set up a field hospital in a town where heavy fighting was going on, and with very limited supplies. They treated every American and Germany Soldier when one of them went out to get more wounded with a wheelbarrow. They found both sides stopped shooting and the medics forced every to leave their guns outside and one of them forced a German Officer ether a major or Colonel to leave his gun and his men's guns outside.

FreedpmRings

"Hallelujah" 

Standing during the singing of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus (from "Messiah," composed in 1741):

An often repeated legend about Messiah tells the story of King George II who was so moved by the "Hallelujah" chorus during the London premiere of Messiah that he rose to his feet and then everyone in attendance followed suit as not to be sitting when the king stood.

That's how the regularly debated tradition of standing during the "Hallelujah" chorus came to be (also giving birth to countless passive-aggressive battles of concert decorum between the sitters and standers!).

However, according to various experts, there is no truth to this story. In fact there is no evidence King George II was even in attendance, and it is unlikely the newspaper writers that were in the audience would have overlooked mentioning a royal presence. The first reference to this story was a letter written 37 years after the fact.

Just where that leaves us in the annual stand-versus-sit showdown though is still very much up for debate.

Back2Bach

Go to Bologna....

the station kobe GIF by The STATION By MAKER Giphy

The war of the bucket. Milan and Bologna went to war, Milan's butt was handed to them, and in the treaty, Bologna took their sacred bucket and put it on display for all to see. Go to Bologna and it's still there.

Exotic-Influence

Forever....

I know everybody has already mentioned this (and will mention this), but the Christmas Day ceasefire during WWI. Not only did they stop fighting altogether, but they got out into No Man's Land, played footy all day, and then had supper together, shared stories, broke bread, so on and so forth.

This moment in history is so bittersweet, however, because then on Boxing Day, they got back into their trenches and went back to killing these temporary friends they made because men of higher authority a world away told them to. Extremely wholesome, but extremely sad as well as WWI was a definitive turning point in modern history which began the doctrine of "forever war."

Also, Castle Itter. Tl;dr, in the closing days of the war in Europe, a Yugoslavian prisoner broke out of a German prison camp, sought out the Allies, and along with a defected German bird, the American army, anti-Nazi German indentured soldiers, and a whole bunch of other POWs, they stormed Castle Itter, killed a grip of Nazis, and fought as a single unit under one idealogy - to stop the Third Reich.

Not traditionally wholesome, but beautiful nonetheless that when there were no more punishments for breaking rank, men of countless creeds fought together to take down the German machine. A lot of Americans died, as well as the Yugoslavian, and the German bird. I think it is tragically beautiful that all of these different kinds of men from different cultures and identities fought together - and died together - all in the name of liberation in Europe. Makes you think of the LoTR meme.

anhedoniaman

The Canine Love Story

Obligatory not a Historian....

For me it would be the earliest example of the canine-human relationship. A dog was found buried next to two humans around 15000 years ago and there's the cave with footprints of a child and a dog walking side by side and clearly entering and exiting the cave together.

The domestication of dogs goes way back further than we could imagine, they have always been by our side!

Glitch_in_the_pink

+ 1

Friends Hug GIF by MOODMANGiphy

That time Liechtenstein sent out an army of 80 people and suffered negative casualties because they came back with a friend for a total of 81 people.

47rohin

No, they did not come back with a friend, rather an Austrian Liason officer who accompanied them back to Liechtenstein, as they had been sent out to watch the Italian border with the Austrian Empire, as Italy was allied to Prussia who Austria was losing a war with, and Liechtenstein as an Austrian ally sent these men to make sure there was no surprise Italian assault.

The Austrian officer went back to the empire once the 80 men of Liechtenstein were back in their borders.

Brazilian_Brit

Known as the Merry Monarch....

I like the one from Charles II of England. Known as the Merry Monarch, he loved women and had many mistresses. His favorite was a woman called Nell Gwyn; an actress and seller of confectionary oranges, at a local theatre. He even had a tunnel built from under the theatre to an inn across the road for half time entertainment.

On his death bed he asked his brother to take care of all his mistresses and said of Nell "Let not poor Nelly starve."

She was given a huge pension. He just really cared about the wellbeing of all his mistresses and illegitimate offspring, and especially of Nell who wasn't even of noble birth, which was kind of unusual for the day, and for a king. I just like it because he truly took care of the women in his life, even when it would have been more usual and perfectly acceptable for him not to give a crap about them at all.

Bufotoxin

Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

REDDIT

Teacher standing in front of a classroom
Photo by Taylor Flowe on Unsplash

It's a teacher's job to leave a lasting impression and set a good example for their students.

With this in mind, particularly in this age of viral videos and social media, teachers have to be very careful of what they say during class hours.

Even so, there are very few teachers who haven't said something they've regretted when teaching a class.

Sometimes to control unruly students, other times when they've simply had enough.

Then too, sometimes teachers leave their students baffled and perplexed by what they say in their classroom, well aware of what they were saying.

Always making for a memorable story.

Keep reading...Show less
woman in white crew neck t-shirt sitting on gray sofa
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

As a kid, I never raised alarm bells even when I started to feel sick. My mom got stressed easily and was busy taking care of my younger brother, so I never wanted to be a burden by making her take me to the doctor only to find out nothing was wrong.

However, in fifth grade, my ears started to hurt and I knew something was wrong. I told my mom, she took me to the doctor, and I found out I had an ear infection.

Now, an ear infection isn't serious at all, and it was easily treatable. Still, I learned something from that experience: no one knows your body better than you. You know if and when you're sick and how serious it is, even if you don't now exactly what is wrong.

Redditors can corroborate this. Many of them have experienced symptoms that told them they were sick in some way -- usually with a very serious illness -- and are ready to share those experiences.

Keep reading...Show less
A couple holds hands on a date, candlelit table and two glasses of red wine
Photo by René Ranisch on Unsplash

When in the beginning stages of dating, it's important to know as much as humanly possible.

The element of surprise is no longer a fun aspect of romance.

Ask the small questions. Ask the hard questions.

Interrogate. Grill. Investigate.

Of course, you should do it with a subtle hand instead of an interrogation lamp.

The truth is all we have.

Ask everything.

Keep reading...Show less
Woman letting go of boyfriend's hand
Photo by Everton Vila on Unsplash

As much as we always hop for our dating efforts to be worth it and for every relationship to work out, we all know that some relationships are not destined to work out.

But sometimes relationships end for totally valid reasons, and sometimes the reasons are painful, if not devastating.

Keep reading...Show less