A historic flight, a cave castle and some stubborn cats
 
January 22, 2022 Good Stuff reader Ryan L. recently sent in a story that just about anyone can identify with. At the end of a stressful trip abroad, in the chaos of a busy airport, Ryan misplaced a backpack. In it were his electronics, his prescriptions — all of the expensive and essential things in life. (We never lose the unimportant things, do we?) He went home empty-handed, but realized the next day that a tracking app on his phone showed the backpack was still at the airport! Retrieving it, however, was an exercise in frustration. Ryan was bounced from one airport department to another as people ignored him or brushed him off amid throngs of other customers.
He was just about to give up when he was directed to Joe, a supervisor at the airline counter where he had checked in before his trip. Joe immediately put Ryan at ease, and after several calls and attempts to get through airport red tape, he walked off vowing to find the backpack himself. "Fast forward 60 minutes, there comes Joe walking towards me with the backpack over his shoulder," Ryan said. "That gesture on his end meant the world to me. In these horrible and trying times we find ourselves in, it is amazing to see that people are still good."
So when you feel like you're just one person in the madding crowd, remember — sometimes that's all it takes to make a difference.
If there's something you'd like to see here, drop us a line. Know someone who could use a little Good Stuff? Send them a copy! We hope you love it as much as we do. Our favorites this week Get going with some of our most popular good news stories of the week  Photo credit: Patrick J. Rhodes Patrick the Giver  Photo credit: Patrick J. Rhodes How does he plan to top it all in 2022? More free meals, of course, and a call to action: "My goal for 2022 is to create a #KindnessTakeover environment that uplifts and inspires," Rhodes says on Twitter. So next time you do a good deed, let him know!
 Well-traveled
 Oh, the things we do for cats December, their three pets took an unusually strong liking to the unopened box. As in, they sit on it. Constantly. George, Max and Lando Calrissian are so fond of the box -- unremarkable in smell and appearance, containing a perfectly good, unused Vitamix -- that they rotate positions 24/7 so the box is never without a cat upon it. What's a person to do? The Gerson-Neeves' have decided to just let it play out. Yes, they could shoo the cats off the box (maybe), but as all of human history indicates, the best way to love a cat is to let it have its way. Paid Partner Content Every 24 hours, 27,000 trees …are cut down for toilet paper. This 3-ply bamboo toilet tissue is changing that. It feels like regular high end TP, but doesn't harm trees. Use H25 for 25% off for 24hrs.
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Start Your Health Journey Noom will help you learn to make healthier decisions. With Noom's revolutionary approach to weight loss, you'll create a sustainable, healthy routine to reach your goals.  Raise a glass to...  The geniuses who dangled a sausage from a drone to save a dog stuck on a some dangerous mud flats. Poor Millie went missing while out for a walk in Hampshire, southern England. Volunteer organization Denmead Drone Search and Rescue set up a drone to track her, and found her out on mud flats that can flood during high tide. Police, fire services and even the coastguard couldn't coax the nervous pup back to safety. Three days she was out there, until one volunteer suggested a last resort: Sausage. String. Drone. The sausages were fried, the drone went aloft, and Millie -- sweet, hungry Millie -- followed them right off the flats to safety. Imagine being a neighbor and seeing a drone swinging a sausage around! You'd have no idea a little bit of heroism was afoot.  A bright idea  Did you know bears actually do like honey? It's not just a myth. And for the precious spectacled bear population in Bolivia, honey could be a key to their survival. Spectacled bears are South America's only native bear species, and they boast the Paddington Bear as one of their own. They are also deeply endangered because of climate change. Farmers facing severe drought turn to cattle ranching, which shrinks the bears' habitat and forces more deadly encounters with the human world. Bolivian conservationist Ximena Velez-Liendo, however, came up with an idea. She and her team train locals near the inter-Andean forests of Bolivia in the profession of beekeeping to provide an alternative to raising cattle. Not only is the income from the honey produced by beekeeping better, it also preserves the spectacled bears' territory and builds a better relationship between conservation efforts and traditional land-use.  You gotta see this  Something a little different here this week: People have been loving this adorable clip from Anderson Cooper's show, Anderson Cooper 360. In it, two proud parents catch their 8-week-old baby's heart-melting (and Anderson-melting) first words. You can watch it here! Wanna get away?  Photo credit: Jure Makovec/AFP via Getty Images Yes, this is a castle in a cave. A cave castle, actually. Built into the maw of a massive limestone cave complex in Slovenia, Predjama is the largest cave castle in the world. Don't expect any gentle fairytales, though. Predjama dates back to medieval times and has all sorts of sordid secrets in its depths, including a torture room, a ceiling painted with oxblood and "murder holes" used to pour boiling oil on any invaders. In the mid-1480's Erasmus von Lueg, a local Robin Hood hero, fled to the castle after a duel gone wrong. A siege was ordered, but Erasmus held fast for a year. Alas, he was finally dispatched in a most ignominious fashion: A cannonball landed straight on an outhouse, while he was using it. Admit it, though. The colorful history just makes this remarkable place even more tempting to visit.  Hear, hear! Keep your sense of humor, my friend. If you don't have a sense of humor it just isn't funny anymore. To your health  Image credit: Disney Have you seen the Disney movie "Encanto?" You should! It's a gorgeous, funny film with plenty of toe-tappers, Disney magic ... aaand lessons about trauma and family dynamics that will hit you square in the gut. In fact, therapists are turning to the film as a way to spark some difficult conversations. Members of the multiracial Afro-Latino family in the movie deal with feelings of overwhelming pressure and perfectionism, and the fear of losing a new home after a dangerous journey full of sacrifices. For many people, especially children in immigrant families, that may unearth a lot of unspoken feelings -- feelings that deserve to be discussed. "I think it's going to have a great impact on society," one therapist told CNN. "People are seeing this movie and they're realizing they're seeing themselves in it." Rec of the week
Brought to you by CNN Underscored  20 products from Chewy our readers can't stop buying for their pets Whether it's a cactus-shaped scratching post, healthy treats or a cozy pet bed, here are the items from Chewy that our readers love most for their dogs and cats. Shameless animal video
There's always time for cute animal videos. That time is now. I got a request this week for some fluffy animals to ward off the cold, and you can't get much fluffier (or more adorable) than Malamute puppies. (Click here to view)  A newsletter for the good in life
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