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“Everything is theoretically impossible, until it’s done.” -- Robert A. Heinlein
Hello! A jet is powered by cooking oil, a 101 year-old gets a long desired high school diploma, and libraries receive back very overdue and long lost books. Today’s stories are opportunities that are brilliantly disguised as challenging and difficult situations. And all are examples of making what seems impossible, possible. Hope you enjoy them!
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The Airbus A380, completed a 3-hour flight on March 25th using Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), predominantly consisting of cooking oil and waste fats. Using SAF significantly reduces the environmental damage caused by planes, and the company Airbus is looking to get its aircraft to fly on SAF by the end of the decade. However, the higher price of sustainable fuel compared to traditional fuels makes its widespread adoption more challenging.
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Merrill Pittman Cooper, 101 years young had one thing in life that bothered him -- not being able to graduate FROM high school and receive his diploma. He had to leave after his junior year at Storer College in Harpers Ferry, W. VA., a boarding school founded after the Civil War that initially educated formerly enslaved children. When he realized his mother couldn't afford to pay for his senior year he encouraged her to move to Philadelphia, PA where she had family. He went to work to help with the bills. "I got so involved in working and making a living that my dreams went out the window," he said. One dream did not, thanks to his 2 step-daughters Marion and Enid and Rod, his son-in-law. Rod worked with Harpers Ferry National Historic Park and the Jefferson School District and set up a surprise virtual ceremony -- so other family `member`s could witness it -- at the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City to award Cooper an honorary high school diploma on March 19. "I never imagined that anything like this could happen," said Cooper. For the first time, said Marion Beckerink, her stepfather was speechless. "I can't think of a happier day," said Cooper, who now displays his framed diploma on his bedroom dresser.
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Monika Andruszewska | Facebook
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War reporter Monika Andruszewska was in Irpin, Ukraine when the city came under attack. Upon seeing a group of terrified locals attempting to escape, she abandoned her camera and escorted them out of the danger zone. A volunteer Ukrainian soldier posted a photograph of her on social media saying, "Today, this fragile but desperate Polish reporter personally rescued about twenty families from under a bridge across the Irpin River. She decided that reporting on the suffering of people in this situation is inappropriate, because people are dying. Honor, Mrs. Monika!" But forAndruszewska, she dismissed calls to be recognized as a hero. "I get a lot of really warm messages, including requests to be in the media and tell stories about it," she says. "I'm sorry, but no. I was just doing what I had to do and there's no need to shine in the media about the now."
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Johnny B. Goode | Pixabay
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All across the world, schools and people are standing in solidarity with Ukraine.In Warsaw, Ukrainian children are welcomed withEnglish lessons anddozens of hand-drawn pictures of yellow sunflowers, the national flower of Ukraine. In France, students and teachers alike waved flags, offered gift bags, and cheered in applause to welcome their classmates. In Spain, a classroom of young children consumed a Ukrainian boy in a heart-warming group hug. In Chicago, Catholic students gathered for collective prayers in their gymnasium while holding candles. "You feel a bit helpless sometimes," says Sophiya Kovalchuk, an eighth-grader at the Nicholas Cathedral School. "And doing this makes us feel better."
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Iñaki del Olmo | Unsplash
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"Enclosed are books I have borrowed and kept in my house for 28-50 years! I am 75 years old now and these books have helped me through motherhood and my teaching career," said a letter accompanying a box of books dropped off at the New York Public Library. "They became family." Those books were part of a wave of returns following the library system's decision of eliminating late fines. While the goal was to return books to their branches after a year and a half of limited access, it also brought in others that were so old they were no longer in the library's systems. When Tony Marx joined the New York Public Library as president in 2011, he aimed to eliminate fines for good. But it wasn't until the pandemic, when fines were temporarily suspended, that he saw the opportunity for a permanent change. "We are not in the fine-collection business. We're in the encouraging-to-read-and-learn business, and we were getting in our own way."
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