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Why this Facebook post of New Yorkers removing anti-Semitic graffiti went viral.

It's easy to feel let down by the world, but don't give up all hope.

Onboard a subway car, New York-based lawyer Gregory Locke and his fellow passengers stood in uncomfortable silence as they took in their surroundings.

Swastikas and hateful messages were scrawled on the car's windows and advertisements in every direction. Messages like "Jews belong in the oven," "Destroy Islam," and "Heil Hitler" covered the walls. As Locke and his fellow passengers contemplated what to do next, a local chef named Jared Nied offered a suggestion.

"Hand sanitizer gets rid of Sharpie," Nied announced. "We need alcohol."


Immediately, the car's passengers rifled through their bags in search of hand sanitizer and tissues. Recounting the incident on Facebook post, Locke estimated that within just two minutes, the hateful symbols and words had been erased from existence.

I got on the subway in Manhattan tonight and found a Swastika on every advertisement and every window. The train was...

Posted by

Gregory Locke on Saturday, February 4, 2017

The post has since gone viral, accruing over 500,000 Likes and over 400,000 shares.

In the wake of a contentious election season that saw the rise of white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and other members of the so-called "alt-right," it's easy to lose faith in the overall goodness of people.

In another incident reported in November, a New York subway car was defaced with racist and homophobic slurs. "White power," read one of the messages on the 1 train. According to the NYPD, instances of vandalism that included swastikas jumped by more than 500% in 2016 over the previous year. Additionally, hate crimes have seen a recent boost since Election Day.

Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz speaks at a anti-hate rally at a Brooklyn park after it was defaced with swastikas in November 2016. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

To make matters worse, just last week Reuters reported that sources said the White House was considering a proposal that would refocus the Department of Homeland Security's Countering Violent Extremism task force solely on "Islamic extremism," and no longer put resources into fighting violent white supremacists. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman called the proposed changes "profoundly misguided."

But incidents like the one Locke posted to his Facebook page show that while the world has its share of bad people with hateful ideologies — there are always good people who are willing to set things right.

It's a sentiment echoed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who Tweeted, "This is what New Yorkers do — we turn hate into love. And we won't back down — not now, not ever," along with a photo of a swastika that had been turned into a message of love.

"'I guess this is Trump's America,' said one passenger," wrote Locke in his Facebook post. "No sir, it's not. Not tonight and not ever. Not as long as stubborn New Yorkers have anything to say about it."

All over the world, there are people making a positive impact by snuffing out hate. Democrat, Republican, Independent, or other, it's crucial that we stand together against hate, no matter where it comes from or in whose name it's being done.

A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

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A nasty note gets a strong response.

We've all seen it while cruising for spots in a busy parking lot: A person parks their whip in a disabled spot, then they walk out of their car and look totally fine. It's enough to make you want to vomit out of anger, especially because you've been driving around for what feels like a million years trying to find a parking spot.

You're obviously not going to confront them about it because that's all sorts of uncomfortable, so you think of a better, way less ballsy approach: leaving a passive aggressive note on their car's windshield.

Satisfied, you walk back to your car feeling proud of yourself for telling that liar off and even more satisfied as you walk the additional 100 steps to get to the store from your lame parking spot all the way at the back of the lot. But did you ever stop and wonder if you told off the wrong person?

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Innovation

A student accidentally created a rechargeable battery that could last 400 years

"This thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it’s still going." ⚡️⚡️

There's an old saying that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.

There's no better example of that than a 2016 discovery at the University of California, Irvine, by doctoral student Mya Le Thai. After playing around in the lab, she made a discovery that could lead to a rechargeable battery that could last up to 400 years. That means longer-lasting laptops and smartphones and fewer lithium ion batteries piling up in landfills.

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Health

8 nontraditional empathy cards that are unlike any you've ever seen. They're perfect!

Because sincerity and real talk are important during times of medical crisis.

True compassion.

When someone you know gets seriously ill, it's not always easy to come up with the right words to say or to find the right card to give.

Emily McDowell — a former ad agency creative director and the woman behind the Los Angeles-based greeting card and textile company Emily McDowell Studio — knew all too well what it was like to be on the receiving end of uncomfortable sentiments.

At the age of 24, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma. She went into remission after nine months of chemo and has remained cancer-free since, but she received her fair share of misplaced, but well-meaning, wishes before that.

On her webpage introducing the awesome cards you're about to see, she shared,

"The most difficult part of my illness wasn't losing my hair, or being erroneously called 'sir' by Starbucks baristas, or sickness from chemo. It was the loneliness and isolation I felt when many of my close friends and family members disappeared because they didn't know what to say or said the absolute wrong thing without realizing it."

Her experience inspired Empathy Cards — not quite "get well soon" and not quite "sympathy," they were created so "the recipients of these cards [can] feel seen, understood, and loved."

Scroll down to read these sincere, from-the-heart, and incredibly realistic sentiments.

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Health

This woman's powerful 'before and after' photos crush myths about body positivity

"Body positivity is about saying that you are more than a body and your self-worth is not reliant on your beauty."





Michelle Elman, a body positivity coach, helps people who are struggling to find confidence in their own skin.

After persevering through numerous medical conditions and surgeries in her own life, Elman realized a few years ago that body positivity wasn't just about size or weight. Things like scars, birthmarks, and anything else that makes us feel different of self-conscious have to be a part of the conversation, and she tries to make the movement accessible to everyone.

Sharing her own journey has been one of her most effective teaching tools.

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via wakaflockafloccar / TikTok

It's amazing to consider just how quickly the world has changed over the past 11 months. If you were to have told someone in February 2020 that the entire country would be on some form of lockdown, nearly everyone would be wearing a mask, and half a million people were going to die due to a virus, no one would have believed you.

Yet, here we are.

PPE masks were the last thing on Leah Holland of Georgetown, Kentucky's mind on March 4, 2020, when she got a tattoo inspired by the words of a close friend.

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