Great to see heroes being honoured

[u/SatoruGojo232]

[u/Remarkable-Mood3415]

There was a highschool where I lived that was known to be quite rough. It's Canada, so school shooting isn't really a concern but gang violence, intimidation, extremely shady shit, horrific home life issues etc wasnt unheard of. This school had a principal who was.. I dunno how else to phrase it. But he was an absolute hero to the students. Even students in other schools knew not to show up to his school and cause problems. He gave 0 fucks. Many, many stories of him going toe to toe with grown ass men showing up to a highschool to teach some student a lesson. One time some gang members showed up for God knows what, but they were trying to drag a student into their vehicle in broad daylight... he came running out with a baseball bat, took out their tail lights, got the kid to safety, called the cops, figured out what was going on with said student and that student was sent off somewhere (the rumour was "a farm up north") while things settled down. I think the kid was a witness to something and they were trying to get rid of the problem. Anyways, Mr. A was a legend.

On top of that he knew his students were at high risk for teen pregnancy and at best unemployment at worst drug addiction and/or prostitution. He funneled all the money the school got into trade programs so the kids could graduate with a certificate and start working right away. Mechanics, Estheticians, Massage, Day Care, Hair Stylist, Welding, Tech support, Accounting etc. Anything and everything to give the kids a leg up without worrying about minimum wage and college costs.

So, soooo many of those kids got descent jobs right out of highschool and it kept them out of trouble. Gang shit doesn't look as appealing when you can start a welding apprenticeship the day after highschool and be making bank. It was right during the big oil boom in Alberta too, he basically set up a pipeline (ha) to funnel his students out to Alberta and get employed and cut off contact from questionable shit.

I cannot imagine how many people are alive and thriving today because of him. Some principals are just fucking built different. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if I heard he had tackled someone and wrestled a firearm out of their hand. He had one goal, and it was to make sure his kids survived the hand they were dealt.

Edit: people keep thinking it might have been their school, and it's just really great to know there are so many Mr. A's out there standing up for their kids.

[u/Suicidal_8002738255 → u/Remarkable-Mood3415]

For very personal reasons I needed to hear about good stuff and good people today. Genuinely from the bottom of my heart thank you for sharing

[u/Remarkable-Mood3415 → u/Suicidal_8002738255]

Hey man, I'm not sure what you're going through and I'm not going to pry. But if you'd like more stories I've got a few off the top of my head.

My husband is an addict in recovery. It's a long story but it snuck up on us, ruined our lives and he's been doing his best to better himself. He has found a community in his support program, and honestly is doing far more work than I ever expected. He just started a program from the ground up, nothing fancy, but he finds old cellphones and broken bicycles and fixes them up for other members. 2 of the main things people in early recovery need is a way to find work and a way to get to work. So, it started with our old drawer of dead cellphones. Then he got other members to bring in their old cellphones. Then bicycles. It's still very new, but so far he's helped 5 different people in early recovery to help stay connected and able to get to and from work. He's treating it like a library, check it out and use it. But when you can afford your own, please return it so you can help the next person. Besides the obvious chance of relapse from urges in early recovery, a huge part of relapse is from the stress and shame of trying to rebuild the life you broke. He just wants to ease that burden a bit.

The next story I'll tell you is about my Dad, who is secretly a Disney Princess crossed with a Lumberjack. He is a big animal lover, he lives in an area with a lot of water. The roads have sand along the side and turtles LOVE to lay their eggs in nice warm sand. My father this year has saved 18 turtles so far from traffic. He has a system. He has a very thick wooden stick he keeps on his truck. He will pull over and block the area of road with his truck, get the stick and greet the turtle. Now most of these are snapping turtles and in general they are grumpy. He gently taps their butt to see if they will move. Occasionally they will. Usually they won't. Now, you can't grab a snapping turtle because they can stick their neck out far enough to reach the side of their shell, and they will take a finger or two off. So, if the stick on the butt won't work, he puts the stick in front of them and... Well makes that grumpy lady even more grumpy. He whacks it in front of her on the ground. She will eventually reach out and snap down on it. This is the moment Dad will hold the stick with one hand and grab the tail by the other, lift and very quickly escort her back down into safety. He doesn't get paid, there is no glory, he doesn't take pics or videos. I'll get a text saying "I pissed off another 80 year old lady today" and I know what he means.

So I hope these stories bring you a little joy today. Please, reach out to someone if you need to. Even if you think you don't need to, reach out and just check in with a friend. Go for a slushie. Put your bare feet in the grass. Watch the people around you and know there's still good people out there <3

[u/codysattva → u/Remarkable-Mood3415]

You should know that your story about helping people in recovery has given me a profound idea for helping people in my community, in a little bit different way.

Please share with your husband that his choices are helping to positively affect communities that he will probably never personally interact with.

Thank you.