Thread by @Goodable

Let’s face it — it’s been a tough year.

But it’s also been filled with beautiful, amazing, heartwarming, kind, and heroic things that changed the world.

Here’s our mega-thread of this year’s most amazing stories.

It’s the thread we all need in our lives.

In Germany, a young boy with cancer used to love looking outside his window to watch the motorcycles drive by.

To surprise him, more than 20,000 bikers showed up for a parade down his street.

This is Joziah.

In April, his dad was killed in a car crash on his way to work as a detective.

His fellow officers didn't want Joziah to be alone on his first day of kindergarten.

So they did this.

This college athlete thought he was getting in trouble. Instead, he got a scholarship.

This shelter in Thailand specializes in making wheelchairs for amputated puppies.

This is what pure joy looks like.

🐶❤️

In Australia, a young woman went to a bird show.

She thought it would be a regular afternoon.

Instead, her boyfriend pulled off the best marriage proposal we’ve ever seen.

(well done, @AustraliaZoo)

In possibly the best climate news of the year, the oceans are healing.

With a little help.

🌎

As if we needed another reason to love Dolly Parton...

Last spring, she announced that she had helped to fund the Moderna vaccine.

This year, she got a jab of the vaccine she helped fund.

That time these two rival politicians in Utah gave a masterclass on civility in politics.

Because we could all use a reminder.

Dasia Taylor is the teenage genius we all need in our lives.

Or at least in the next Avengers.

At the Olympics, Jamaican hurdler @ParchmentHansle accidentally showed up to the wrong venue for his race.

A young woman gave him taxi money to get to the right stadium.

After he won gold, he tracked her down to say thank you.

At the beginning of 2021, Madrid was covered in snow for the first time in decades.

How did people react?

By spontaneously throwing a MASSIVE snowball fight.

❄️

This high school basketball got the surprise of their life after they accidentally entered a wrong number into the team group chat.

They ended up facetiming Tom Brady.

The Serbian Men’s National Football team being the ultimate bros.

In Tennessee, an elderly man lost his home in a massive fire.

He thought he’d lost everything, but didn’t know that firefighters had managed to save his kitten.

This is the moment they were reunited.

😸❤️

That time New Zealand was able to celebrate, after obliterating Covid so effectively that life returned to normal.

It was the success we all needed in the world.

(Hang in there, NZ. You got this next wave too! 👊🏼🇳🇿)

This year, Simone Biles launched a global conversation on mental health by making the decision to pull out of the Olympics.

In December, she was named Time’s Athlete of the Year

This is Abraham Olagbegi.

He’s 13.

After getting a bone marrow transplant, he became eligible for the Make A Wish Foundation.

What did he ask for?

To feed the homeless every month for a whole year.

That time Canada’s politicians came together to ban conversion therapy.

The bill passed unanimously - without a single dissenting vote.

This is the moment they made history.

Still in Canada, a young boy couldn’t celebrate Halloween because he was in the hospital.

So the entire neighborhood came together, kept up their decorations, and dressed up in costumes a week later - just so he wouldn’t miss it

When the New Zealand All-Black were visiting Ireland for a rugby match, this group of people with Down Syndrome surprised them with a special performance of the Haka.

In November, scientists announced that The Great Barrier Reef was beginning to show signs of healing and regeneration.

In North Carolina, this principal performed Whitney's "I Will Always Love You" to the entire graduating class.

It's possibly the best seventy seconds you'll spend today...

🎓

And the biggest, most incredible story from 2021?

YOU.

You’re here. In the middle of a raging global pandemic, you’ve already made it this far.

That’s the best news ever!

🎉🎊🥳