It makes me so angry that

anyone could treat another creature so cruelly. But it gives me hope that others stepped in to save such a fragile life. What an amazing spirit and will to live this dog has! The pictures in the story are heart-breaking at first (you have been warned), and then, with recovery, inspiring. Thanks to George Takei for sharing this on Facebook.

This Dog Was Tossed in a Trash Chute, Left to Die. Three Years Later, His Recovery is Amazing.

Patrick's owners had starved him for months before one day, three years ago, they did the unthinkable. Patrick was put into a trash bag, then dumped into a New Jersey apartment building's garbage chute that dropped him 19 stories down.

Luckily, just before the garbage was compacted, maintenance workers noticed the bag was moving very slightly. They soon discovered the emaciated, dying dog. Authorities were contacted, and Patrick was immediately taken to the Associated Humane Societies' Newark Animal Shelter. Things weren't looking good for the poor dog.

(Photo credit: Patrick the Miracle Dog Facebook Page)

A sad but compelling story

Oregon Father’s Memorial Trek Across Country Ends in a Family’s Second Tragedy

As he made his way across the country, Joe Bell walked through rain squalls, slept in ditches and talked to anyone who would listen about how his gay son had killed himself after being taunted and bullied at school.

Mr. Bell’s artificial knees ached and his feet were mapped with blisters, but he told friends and strangers that he was determined to make it on foot from his home in eastern Oregon to New York City, where his son, Jadin, 15, had dreamed of one day working in fashion or photography. “I miss my son Jadin with all my heart and soul,” he wrote on Facebook in late May. “I know you’re with me on this walk.”

But last Wednesday, Mr. Bell’s American journey — one that drew attention from local newspapers and attracted thousands of followers on social media — ended in an instant on a two-lane road in rural eastern Colorado. He was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer whose driver had apparently fallen asleep, the state police said.

For nearly six months, Mr. Bell, 48, had been on the road, sharing his son’s story and trying to salve his own grief. He spoke at motorcycle rallies and college bars, schools, diners and gay-outreach centers, telling people about his sensitive, artistic son who hanged himself from a piece of playground equipment on Jan. 19.

It's all about touching lives

Dying teacher's quest: Did I make difference?

As careers go, it's been a short one, only 15 years. But David Menasche has spent every minute of it teaching English at Coral Reef Senior High School in Miami, where his former students number nearly 3,000.

Now 40, he's battling stage-four brain cancer. After three surgeries, 21/2 years of chemotherapy and 30 rounds of radiation, he is losing his battle against cancer. So in his final months, Menasche is doing what most teachers only dream of: He's traveling the country, visiting his former students and asking: Did I make a difference?

"I am at the end of my life," he said recently. "I don't know how much longer I have left, and I just wanted that sense of satisfaction that the time I did have I used well."

This child has more spirit than most people have their entire lifetimes

Child Shot Protecting Mom Hailed a Hero

Okay, it should be 'heroine', but the sentiment is true. A former boyfriend of her mother's forced his way into the back seat of the car where she was sitting. When he went to fire at her mother, who was in the front passenger seat, Alexis Goggins, who is only 7 years old and has epilepsy and a learning disability after suffering a stroke at age one, threw herself in front of the bullets, screaming for him not to hurt her mommy.

Her mother was shot twice including once in the chest that nearly hit an artery, but survived and has been released. Two weeks later, though, Alexis is still in the hospital. Six slugs hit her, including one in her right eye that will leave her blind on that side. Others hit her face and jaw. She's had three surgeries so far according to an article a friend saw (YKWIA pointed this out to me.)

Fortunately, the driver of the car had convinced the gunman she needed gas and had gotten a gas station attendant to call 911 at the time of the shooting. Police arrived almost immediately, and the man was arrested at the scene. He was already an ex-con on parole. Let's hope this time he's in for a very, very long time.

My best wishes to Alexis and her family. They might want to check out the Shriners Hospital in Minneapolis-St Paul (they are in Michigan). It sounds like she could benefit from care there. She certainly sounds like a fighter who hasn't had it very easy in life. But one thing's for certain, she gets the real meaning of love, something this man and others like him will never understand.