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Well Being

Flight attendant shares a tearful message on her last flight before being furloughed

Flight attendant shares a tearful message on her last flight before being furloughed

The human cost of the coronavirus pandemic can be measured in many ways. Illness and death top the list, of course, but the mental, emotional, and economic toll must be acknowledged as well. Though the woefully inconsistent and inadequate U.S. response has led to far more suffering than necessary, and although better control of the pandemic would have saved us from a lot of it, some struggles were inevitable.

One industry that was going to be hit hard one way or the other is the airline industry. With people being advised to stay home and avoid close proximity with others, especially in enclosed spaces, airplane travel has been out. And seven months in, the ongoing hit has become unsustainable. As of October 1, 40,000 airline employees have been furloughed.

One flight attendant's heartfelt farewell as she crewed her final flight has been shared by ABC's Sam Sweeney, and phew, it's a doozy. She holds back tears as she explains how American Airlines has been forced to reduce flights, which has resulted in job cuts and how much she has loved working as a flight attendant.


After thanking the passengers and the airline for the opportunity to "see this big world" and to make lifelong friendships—having to take a few breaks to compose herself as she was speaking—she called on everyone to practice kindness and compassion toward one another. It's a heart-wrenching clip that puts a human face on the economic toll the pandemic has taken.

Some efforts have been made to avoid such job losses. Oregon Representative Peter DeFazio attempted to pass a bill in the House to save those jobs—an extension of the Payroll Relief Program from the CARES Act—but it was blocked by the GOP. DeFazio gave an impassioned speech decrying the block.

"Flight attendants, they don't get paid a heck of a lot of money," he said. "Pilots—yeah, they do well. Mechanics, gate agents, tens of thousands of those people have been furloughed as of yesterday. They've lost their jobs, they've lost their healthcare, some of them are going to lose their homes. They don't know how they're going to make ends meet, feed their kids, or do anything else, all because the Republicans in the House of Representatives would not agree, and the Republicans in the Senate will not agree to a larger package that contains these provisions. These are vital provisions, they're time-sensitive, but the larger package would provide relief to tens of millions of Americans—the HEROES package would extend healthcare to people who've lost it, the HEROES package would extend unemployment to people who've lost it, the HEROES package would send out individual checks, the HEROES package would send money to keep small businesses going..."

DeFazio's time ran out and his request for another minute was denied.

"Well I'm sorry, I'm not gonna stop talking. I'm tired of bureaucracy around here—it's time to do real things for the American people!" he shouted. "And this is real. These people's lives are at stake."

The pandemic has been tough on all of us, but when jobs and businesses are hit by forces beyond their control and Americans are losing their livelihoods by the millions, it's time for the government to stop the bleeding any way it can. And when partisan bickering gets in the way of helping the American people, it's time to make our voices heard at the ballot box.

The gaze of the approving Boomer.

Over the past few years, Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964) have been getting a lot of grief from the generations that came after them, Gen X (1965 to 1980), Millenials (1981 to 1996), and now, Gen Z (1997 to 2012). Their grievances include environmental destruction, wealth hoarding, political polarization, and being judgemental when they don’t understand how hard it is for younger people to make it in America these days.

Every Baby Boomer is different, so it's wrong to paint them all with a broad brush. But it’s undeniable that each generation shares common values, and some are bound to come into conflict.

However, life in 2023 isn’t without its annoyances. Many that came about after the technological revolution put a phone in everyone’s hands and brought a whole new host of problems. Add the younger generations' hands-on approach to child rearing and penchant for outrage, and a lot of moden life has become insufferanble.

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Klein Kwagga understood the assignment at his sister's concert.

Some kids are too shy to ever want to get on a stage, some will spend most of a performance staring awkwardly at their shoes, and some kids love the opportunity to show off what they've practiced in front of an audience.

And then there are the kids were simply born for the spotlight. You know them when you see them.

When Dirkco Jansen van Nieuwenhuizen hopped on stage with all of the other brothers and sisters of the dance students at René’s Art of Dance in South Africa, no one expected a viral sensation. According to Capetown Etc, it was the school's year-end concert, and siblings were invited to come up and dance to Bernice West’s Lyfie—a popular song in Afrikaans. And Dirkco, who goes by Klein Kwagga, took the assignment and ran with it.

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Prepare to get Thatcherized.

It seems that Adele is going viral once again.

Perhaps you’ve seen the image in question previously (it seems to make the rounds every couple of years). But in case you missed it—it’s Adele’s face. Normal, just upside down.

Only it’s not normal. In fact, when you turn Adele’s face right side up, what you notice is that her eyes and mouth were actually right-side up THE ENTIRE TIME, even though the entire head was upside down. So when you turn the head right side up, the eyes and mouth are now UPSIDE-DOWN—and you can’t unsee it. Do you feel like you're Alice in Wonderland yet?

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Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

People share the most practical ways to support new parents

There's a lot of preparation that goes into having a child well before they're even born. First there are the physical changes your body makes to clear up some space for a tiny human roughly the size of a watermelon. Then there's preparing the nursery, buying lots of extremely small clothes, diapers and an expected understanding that while sleep may be your friend, you won't be getting any of it for about a year.

Lots of people give plenty of advice to help you cope in the early days but after the baby arrives, the focus shifts to solely the baby. It's obviously not a deliberate shift. Babies are just more shiny and new that the parents. But not everyone forgets about the parents once baby makes their grand entrance–some go out of their way to make sure the parents feel supported.

Upworthy asked its audience, "what was the best non-baby related gift you received as a new parent," and the answers were a masterclass on how to care for new parents.

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Family

A mom seeks doctor's help for postpartum depression and instead gets a visit from the cops

Too many women lose out on much needed support because of unwarranted stigma.

Canva

Postpartum depression is very common, and treatable.

Jessica Porten recently visited her doctor four months after giving birth to her daughter, Kira. She wasn't feeling quite like herself.

She had been dealing with overwhelming sadness and fits of anger, which she knew was likely stemming from a case of postpartum depression.

In a Facebook post, Porten recounts the story of that appointment.

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Identity

Formerly enslaved man's response to his 'master' wanting him back is a literary masterpiece

"I would rather stay here and starve — and die, if it come to that — than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters."

A photo of Jordan Anderson.

In 1825, at the approximate age of 8, Jordan Anderson (sometimes spelled "Jordon") was sold into slavery and would live as a servant of the Anderson family for 39 years. In 1864, the Union Army camped out on the Anderson plantation and he and his wife, Amanda, were liberated. The couple eventually made it safely to Dayton, Ohio, where, in July 1865, Jordan received a letter from his former owner, Colonel P.H. Anderson. The letter kindly asked Jordan to return to work on the plantation because it had fallen into disarray during the war.

On Aug. 7, 1865, Jordan dictated his response through his new boss, Valentine Winters, and it was published in the Cincinnati Commercial. The letter, entitled "Letter from a Freedman to His Old Master," was not only hilarious, but it showed compassion, defiance, and dignity. That year, the letter would be republished in theNew York Daily Tribune and Lydia Marie Child's "The Freedman's Book."

The letter mentions a "Miss Mary" (Col. Anderson's Wife), "Martha" (Col. Anderson's daughter), Henry (most likely Col. Anderson's son), and George Carter (a local carpenter).

Dayton, Ohio,
August 7, 1865
To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

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