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Man gets stranger's baby to sleep on him during a flight in beautiful moment caught on video

People traveling with babies may not realize how much older parents actually want to help.

@allieseabock/Instagram

A kind stranger can make all the difference, especially when traveling with little ones.

Few things are more stressful for a parent of young children and babies than traveling on a plane with them, especially if you're alone. Keeping toddlers busy and happy for hours while stuck in an airplane seat is no easy task, nor is keeping a baby quiet and content when their ears are feeling the cabin pressure changes and they're out of their normal routine.

Throw in being pregnant on top of traveling with a baby and toddler alone and you have mom Allie Seabock's recent challenge. However, thanks to the kindness of strangers, what could have been a nightmare flight turned into a perfect example of good people being everywhere.

In a video captioned, "travel alone with kids and you will find who the truly amazing people are," Seabock showed her baby face down on a man's chest in a seat across the aisle. As he gently pats the baby's back, the wee one starts to close its eyes, drifting off into peaceful sleep.

"When you're a pregnant, tired mom traveling alone with a baby and toddler and a kind couple offers to take your fussy baby for the rest of the flight and manage to get him to sleep," the video reads.

There's so much to love about this video.

First of all, the couple noticed the mom having some struggles and offered to help. Many strangers might think about offering in a situation like this but don't because they worry about appearing creepy or overstepping bounds. But it never hurts to simply offer a helping hand. Even if someone doesn't accept, they will probably appreciate the thoughtfulness.

Secondly, Seabock did take them up on their offer. Some parents might feel hesitant in this situation, either concerned about safety or about being a burden. Everyone is strapped into seats on an airplane and the couple is in plain sight, so the safety concern is pretty low. It's not like someone can run off with the child at 30,000 feet. And as for being a burden, a lot of young parents might not realize this, but many older parents—perhaps most—eagerly want to hold babies. They're not just being polite; you're actually doing them a kindness in letting them take the baby for a bit so they can reminisce about holding their own children who are too grown to cradle anymore. It's truly a win-win, so if you feel like safety is taken care of and someone offers to hold your baby, take them up on the offer.

Third, what a great example to all of the people who witnessed this exchange, both on that flight and now on the internet. We all need reminders that humans can be kind and helpful, and simple interactions like this make a big difference in how we view the world. So often we see viral videos of bad behavior on airplanes, but in reality there are wonderful acts of kindness and compassion happening every day that we don't get to see.

People in the comments shared their own experiences with strangers holding babies and the relief it offers:

"I once held a stranger’s fussy toddler the entire train ride to Paris from London. It takes a village. ❤️"

"Love this video. People are amazing. When I moved overseas with a 3.5 months old who had colics and we were traveling for 24 hours (and before I get a mean comment, military orders, they would not let us stay in between flights in a hotel) I had the sweetest flight attendant help me when I was stressed out. Will never forget her encouraging words and her just sitting with me talking to me and holding my baby when I was very overwhelmed and tired."

"I was travelling cross country by plane with my 2 year old on a red eye flight. A young woman from India was sitting next to us. She offered to let my son put his feet in her lap so he could stretch out. Heaven sent."

"I was traveling alone with my baby once and the passenger next to me was so so sweet and made my baby laugh and be happy and I’ll never forget the kindness and relief it gave me. ❤️"

"We have a corporate plane for our work (not a private jet but like a 50 seater plane for business travel) and one coworker just had triplets! The whole plane was fighting over who got to help with baby duty. 😂"

And many people reiterated the fact that people really do want to help. Like please, by all means, let us hold your baby for you.

"My babies aren’t babies anymore. I’ll play airplane auntie to your baby any time! I miss baby snuggles."

"Oh I would cherish holding a baby - my girls are 11 and 7!"

"Y'know, just ONCE I wish that parents on the plane would hand over their babies to me. I have credentials and I'm a grandma-in-training!"

"This absolutely warms my heart❤️… it would be me offering too. Love babies and giving parents a needed break."

It can be hard to put your trust in a stranger, but there are few places safer to do that than on an airplane and few places where the need is greater. And if more of us offered and accepted such help, flights with babies might just be more pleasant and peaceful for all of us.

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A man left a note after backing into a woman's car. Their text exchanges are peak wholesome.

Humans are just wonderful sometimes.

Photo credit: Canva, @martusameri/Reddit

Woman's reaction to a note on her car has people smiling.

People leave notes on strangers' cars for a host of reasons. Sometimes it's an anonymous compliment or word of encouragement. Sometimes it's a complaint about someone's parking. Sometimes it's a sales pitch for a car wash or legal services. Sometimes it's an apology for a woopsie—opening a car door or losing control of a shopping cart, dinging a stranger's vehicle.

Often the note is where the communication ends—but not always. When a man left a note on a woman's car after accidentally backing into it, she responded to him by text and their exchange has people feeling a bit better about humanity.

The exchange took place in early November 2024, the night after the incident, and it begins:

"Hey Dan this is Katie—I got your note on my car last night. Honestly I don't really see any damage—maybe the license plate is slightly crunched? Did you just back straight into the front? I don't see anything else that wasn't already there. Unless my bumper randomly falls off while I'm driving today I think you're good. 🙂 Thanks so much for leaving the note, I really appreciate it."

First of all, Dan could have bailed after bumping her car and not left a note at all. Katie could have ignored the note and went on her merry way since she wasn't bothered by it. Or worse, she could have bilked Dan or his insurance company for money. Instead, we get to see two strangers in a wholesome exchange characterized by goodwill, good faith and good feels all around.

Dan replied back: "Hi! I think I backed into your driver door. It wasn't too hard but it was late/dark so I really couldn't see much but it looked like I may have dented the door. I wasn't sure so I just wanted to leave my number."

He wasn't even sure if he had damaged her car, but he left a note anyway.

That's some seriously good karma there, Dan.

Katie reassured him that it was already dented, to which Dan replied, "lol 🫣 thank goodness I was like OH NO WHAT HAVE I DONE."

Three cry laugh emojis from Katie, followed by, "You're totally fine. This car has 415,000 miles on it literally as long as it runs I do not care. Hope you have a great Sunday!"

Dan shared that he had gone to the liquor store on the corner to get a pen so he could leave the note because he felt terrible about the dent. "Thanks for being so great!" he wrote, adding that her car and she were "amazing."

"Omg haha that's so nice! No worries at all," Katie responded. Then they wished one another a wonderful day. Let's just sit here for a moment and relish in how lovely and wholesome that whole thing was.

People reacted by sharing similar stories of car incidents gone right.

"I had a kid leave me a note yeeeears ago on an old Chevy Malibu I was driving, and it said he’d hit my car and dented it, and to call him. I called him and said I couldn’t tell him which dent was his 😂 but that he was a good kid. We had a nice laugh together and I still think about him. I hope he still has those ethics and has had a wonderful life."

"Once in college I was driving my beater 1995 Ford Escort during a snowstorm. I slid out of a parking lot right into a car slowly traveling down the snowy street - totally my fault. I jumped out and immediately apologized profusely. He was driving something equally beater-y, like a mid-90s civic or something. After a few seconds surveying the damage, he just said 'Look, I drive a piece of shit, you drive a piece of shit. I could really care less about this honestly, so let's just move along.' We shook hands and went about our days. 10/10 best fender-bender outcome."

"Same thing a few years ago with my 2004 Explorer at a university parking lot. Someone left me a note saying they hit my car, but not which part. Spent 15 minutes trying to tell which scratch/dent was new before I texted them to not worry about it and thanks for the honesty."

Some people tried to spin the exchange into a rom-com style meet cute, but Dan clarified in the comments that he is married. ( In fact, his wife was in the car with him when it happened—they were out on a date because of course they were.)

This simple exchange between two genuinely good people with nothing to gain from being kind hit people right in their humanity.

"You sir are what we need more of in society. Good old fashioned honest person with integrity. Good karma was returned to you for being honest."

"She's a real one, too! She could have easily taken that omission about the door and milked it for cash money or put you through an insurance claim. Both of y'all seem like excellent people. This exchange really did make me smile!"

"This short little back in forth they provided us restored my faith in humanity. Both just being honest and chill."

"What a nice post. Many people would see this as an opportunity to get money or the car fixed even if not OPs fault. But make OP pay. Love the thoughtfulness and honesty of Dan. And love the thoughtfulness and honesty of Katie!"

"Two lovely people. As you get older you learn to love these types of interactions with people more and more."

In a world where bad behavior goes viral, here's to Dan and Katie for reminding us that people are so often genuinely kind and honest.

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A 79-yr-old broke her leg while hiking alone. A stranger carried her back down on his back.

Rather than let her wait five hours for search and rescue, Airman Troy May and other hikers helped get Ursula Bannister to safety.

Photos courtesy of Joint Base Lewis-McChord/Airman 1st Class Benjamin Riddle (right)

Ursula Bannister was fortunate to have a group of strangers come to her rescue after she broke her leg in three places.

It's not often you see an almost-80-year-old woman hiking alone, much less on a trail considered a difficult hike. But for 79-year-old Ursula Bannister, the trek up to High Rock Lookout in Washington state is a meaningful annual tradition. She had scattered her mother's ashes atop the lookout 23 years ago and she goes back to lay flowers at the scenic spot overlooking Mount Rainier every year.

She usually goes with a family member, but this year she couldn't find anyone to accompany her. The 3.2 mile hike is steep, but as an experienced hiker with poles, she wasn't nervous about it. She made it to the top, ate her lunch and took some pictures. But soon after turning around to make her way back down, her foot caught in a hole and she fell.

“I decided to cut over to the trail, through some bush," she told KOMO News. "I went bushwhacking and my right foot found a critter hole…I went down and I knew right away. My foot was broken.”

She wrapped her leg and tried to get up with her hiking pole, but her ankle collapsed under her when she stood on it.

Unable to hike down the trail with a broken leg, she would have had to wait five hours for search and rescue.

Bannister was in a lot of pain and cried out for help. Soon strangers found her and one called 911, but the dispatcher said it would take about five hours for a search and rescue team to arrive. Bannister asked if anyone had pain killers, but no one did.

That's when 20-year-old U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Troy May and some friends came along to help. Rather than have her wait for search and rescue, May and his friend, Layton Allen, offered to carry Bannister back down the trail.

“I knew I was capable of carrying her down,” May, who is stationed at Washington's Joint Base Lewis-McChord, told MSN. “I really didn’t make much of a decision, I just knew I needed to carry her down if I could.”

A whole group of strangers rallied to help get the woman down the trail safely

But May and Layton were not the only strangers on the trail to offer their services to help Bannister down the mountain. A physical therapist used wood scraps to build a splint and bandaged her up. An occupational therapist helped keep her calm by doing breathing exercises with her. When May's cowboy boots—which he said he wears everywhere—started giving him blisters as he carried Bannister down the trail, another stranger who saw the situation gave May his own boots to wear. The group who accompanied her shared stories and asked her questions about her life to distract her and keep her from screaming in pain during the hike down.

elderly woman on the back of a young man on a trail Ursula Bannister being carried by Airman Troy May and friends. Photo courtesy of media.defense.gov

Bannister said it felt like all of these people were "behaving like angels coming from the sky" and she was so thankful for their help.

May took the brunt of the physical labor, carrying Bannister for most of the 1.6 mile down the mountain, taking turns with Allen as needed. To make the slow, steep trek more comfortable for Bannister, they put a backpack on the front of whoever was carrying her and ran her legs through the straps to stabilize them a bit.

The young rescuers made sure she got to the hospital and stayed with her until family arrived.

Allen then drove Bannister to the hospital in her car with May following in his car. They waited with her at the hospital until her son arrived.

“I was just overwhelmed with gratitude that these people literally came out of the woods to help me and they were totally unselfish and kind,” Bannister told MSN.

Bannister ended up with more than 10 screws and a plate in her leg, which was broken in three places. And Airman May ended up with a medal of achievement for his selfless rescue of the woman.

Air Force Airman Troy May holding achievement medalU.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Troy May, 62d Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, holds Air Force Achievement Medal at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, Sept. 13, 2024. Photo by Airman 1st Class Benjamin Riddle

“One of the Air Force’s core values is service before self, and Airman 1st Class May clearly exemplified that core value with his actions,” said Lt. Col. Joshua Clifford, 62nd AMXS commander. “While our team of Airmen showcase amazing accomplishments every day, we relish the opportunity to focus on one Airman’s courage and recognize them for truly living the Air Force’s core values.”

"Carrying her down that evening wasn't the easiest thing to do, but it was the right thing to do," Airman First Class May told ABC's David Muir.

A tearful Bannister also offered her "heartfelt thanks" to all of the people who helped her.

“People are amazing," she told KOMO. "You know we might not agree politically we might not agree socially but we certainly agree on the human platform and people will drop whatever they’re doing to help somebody in need,” Ursula added.

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Woman shares the powerful impact of a 'hardcore' gym bro's words of encouragement

Previous experience had her feeling nervous when the man approached her at the gym, but what he said brought her to tears.

@steph5468/TikTok

Steph shares how a few simple words made all the difference.

Going to the gym can be a daunting prospect for a lot of people. It shouldn't be—the whole point of going to the gym is to exercise, which is something that should universally be applauded—but sometimes it can feel like there's pressure to be at a certain fitness level or have a certain physique before stepping foot in the door.

For people who are heavier, gym culture can be especially intimidating. Unfortunately, not everyone remembers to practice kindness and fatphobia appears to remain a fairly tolerated prejudice. That shouldn't stop people with big bodies from enjoying all that fitness centers have to offer, but all too often, it does.

It hasn't stopped a woman named Steph from working out regularly at her gym, albeit with some trepidation. As she shared in a hugely viral TikTok, she's experienced some unkind behavior at the gym that made her nervous when a man approached her recently. But her description of the encounter ultimately demonstrated how powerful a few positive words can be.

In a video made from her car just after leaving the gym, Steph explained that a "hardcore" gym-goer who is "super tough" and covered in tattoos had came up to talk to her. Her initial response was to be afraid of what he was going to say to her, based on previous experience. She shared in the video how hard it's been to stay steady with her workouts, especially with medications she's on making her body hold onto weight, but she's been working hard to be consistent. She steeled herself for whatever he might say.

She didn't expect it to be this: "I've seen you in here every week, almost every day. I've seen you in here every week—and I'm proud of you." Nor did she expect that such simple words of encouragement could make such a huge impact.

Watch her tell the story:

@steph5468

#gymprogress #workputjourney #keepgoing #healingjourney

People had a lot to say about the interchange and Steph's emotional response to it.

"People do not realize, how one person can change everything," wrote one commenter.

"Girl you are CRUSHING IT," wrote another. "That man you encountered is what real men do. Encourage. Support. Be human! It isn’t hard! ❤️"

"No one knows your story, your struggles. You're doing the dang thing and that takes courage and strength. You. Keep. Going. I'm proud of you too!" shared another.

More and more words of encouragement flooded Steph's comment section, and people on Upworthy's Instagram page weighed in as well.

"I'm a fitness coach and this made me cry 😢 just having someone say they are proud of you can move mountains for so many of us who didn’t/ don’t get the praise growing up," wrote one person.

"Who knows? He may be going through something too and saw a determined, consistent, fellow traveler," wrote another. "You share your Truth so powerfully. You may not know how many people will see this and be encouraged by your honesty. I’m in awe that you show up for YOURSELF every day. And as for the rude and ill-mannered? Well they struggle too—just to be decent kind human beings. Some people have not been shown Empathy and therefore do not know how to use that muscle. You are beautiful, smart, articulate, wise and a woman who knows where she’s headed. Keep walking, head up knowing there are many many more who do empathize, who see you and are on your side❤️"

"It’s amazing to think about how this man’s single act of kindness, spread through you to affect us all in a positive way," shared another. "This made all of our days, and I’m crying tears of joy while I write this. Please thank him from all of us the next time you see him, if you’re comfortable with that. And thank you for sharing! ❤️"

Indeed, thanks to both Steph and the hardcore, tattooed gym bro for being wonderful examples for us all. We never know what a small act of kindness or a few words of encouragement will do to make someone's life significantly better, but it's always worth trying.


This article originally appeared on 9.5.23

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