In today’s turbulent news feeds from around the world we don’t often see exciting stories with happy endings about heroic people doing amazing selfless things for others. In an incredible turn of events on July 9th this year, a brave and daring six year old boy rescued his four-year-old sister from a ferocious dog attack and wound up with a face full of cuts, bruises and stitches, ninety stitches to be exact.

Bridger Walker, a six-year-old boy from Wyoming, USA, put himself in harm’s way when a one-year-old German Shepherd mix charged towards his younger sister as they played in the backyard of a friend’s house, according to the boy’s aunt.

According to Bridger, his friend pointed to the dog and warned it was mean just before the dog decided to run and lunge at his sister.

Nikki Walker, the boy’s aunt, gave a detailed account of the incident on Instagram along with pictures of the two siblings.

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My nephew is a hero who saved his little sister from an attacking dog. He, himself, took on the attack so that the dog wouldn’t get his sister. He later said, “If someone was going to die, I thought it should be me.” He got home from the hospital last night. I know it’s a long shot, but I’m reaching out to the Avengers and other heroes so that they can learn about this latest addition to their ranks. Please, check your DM’s for my sweet nephew’s story. @tomholland2013 @chrishemsworth @robertdowneyjr @markruffalo @prattprattpratt @twhiddleston @chadwickboseman @vindiesel @chrisevans @vancityreynolds @thehughjackman Edit: I never expected my sweet nephew’s story to reach so many. Please, follow my other post (I only have two so far 😅) for the latest info regarding my sweet nephew and his family.

A post shared by Nikki Walker (@nicolenoelwalker) on Jul 11, 2020 at 7:42am PDT

According to the aunt’s account, Bridger stood between his sister and the dog as the dog approached her. At which time the dog jumped and latched onto Bridger’s face. Ignoring the severity of his injuries, he managed to grab his sister’s hand and run with her to a spot in the yard where he felt they would be safe from the dog.

Bridger received ninety stitches on his face and was treated by a plastic surgeon. His aunt said he is home now recovering from the incident. The surgery lasted about two hours.

Bridger’s aunt quoted her nephew as saying, “If someone was going to die, I thought it should be me”. In her social media post about the incident she also said she was going to tag actors who play superhero characters in the Hollywood franchise Avengers movies to let them know her nephew has joined their ranks as a young brave hero. Admittedly, she did not expect the message to reach the actors.

Much to the family’s amazement, several major Hollywood stars responded to her posts offering praises for Bridger’s valiant act of pure selflessness.

Mark Rufallo, A list actor who plays The Hulk in the Avengers series, took the time to write a thoughtful post to Bridger via social media saying, “Real courage is knowing what is right to do and doing it even when it might end up hurting you somehow”. He added, “You are more of man than many, many I have seen or known”.

Academy Award winner, Anne Hathaway, posted about Bridger on Facebook saying, “I’m not an Avenger, but I know a superhero when I see one”.

NBC News reported that Chris Evans, Captain America in the Avengers movies, appeared in character on a viral social media video offering accolades for the boy’s bravery. He tells Bridger that he is going to send him an authentic Captain America shield because he deserves it. In a side by side video Briger can be seen watching Evans on a tablet while wearing a Captain America costume and his face appears to be healing well underneath the mask, certainly a moving image.

Zachary Levi, the Hollywood actor who plays Shazam, said on a social media post that the boy is an “ACTUAL hero”.

Bridger’s parents told NBC News the only time the boy cried was when receiving an IV at the hospital. They wanted to share his story with the world to help cheer him up. Seeing Bridger on social media, it is apparent the attention he is receiving is helping him maintain high spirits through an arduous recovery.

Each year, roughly one million children from over 5,000 schools join at the Wat Phra Dhammakaya Buddhist Temple in Thailand to participate in the ‘V-Star Change the World Project.’ The V-Star project is an effort to bring world peace to the planet through mass meditation. The children involved in the project sit in total silence for an entire day.

The children selected for this event are all seen as leaders among their peers, so the ritual also acts as a sort of networking social event, as the participants will have a chance to meet and talk before and after the ceremony.

Photo Credit: Buzzworthy

The process to get accepted for this project is extremely rigorous, and the membership is very exclusive. The children who are selected are required to complete ten different tasks every single day for up to three months. Some of these tasks are simple, like helping their parents with housework and making their beds, but others may be more difficult.

A representative with the program said in a statement that, “If we want to change the world we must start with the small things, so if we want to change the world we need the kids to change first. We believe that changing the world starts with changing ourselves, so when a million kids are doing their best to be a better person, it can really change the world. If we want to change the world we must start with the small things, so if we want to change the world we need the kids to change first. We believe that changing the world starts with changing ourselves, so when a million kids are doing their best to be a better person, it can really change the world.”

Photo Credit: Buzzworthy

The Minister of Education, Prof. Dr. Suchart Thadathamrongvej spoke on the importance of the event, saying that he was impressed to see so many children in meditation.

“We are the leaders of a moral revival project. Today I am very impressed when I see lots of children coming here together to do good deeds. I’m confident that Luang Phaw’s method is right and correct to change this world to be beautiful because of morality again. The temple upholds that changing the world begins with changing ourselves. Because of this, everyone can alter the world’s future in a small way,” Thadathamrongvej said.

The children are certainly the future, but can meditation really bring peace to the world?

The art of meditation dates back many thousands of years and is just as natural as dreaming. Throughout history, the practice of meditation has had a profound impact on the intellectual and spiritual growth of billions. Even in today’s materialistic societies many people still meditate.

A 2005 study showed that one in three adults meditate on a daily basis. Yet in our modern institutions of control like the education system or the media we see a very sarcastic and even negative attitude towards meditation. Meditation is presented by the establishment as a sort of tribal ritual that has no place in the so called “civilized” world. Many people buy into this mentality not knowing what meditation is and go through their whole life with an unclear perspective of their own consciousness.

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In 1998, a breakthrough study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, by a DR. Dean Ornish showed that meditation can actually reverse heart disease. This study lasted for over 5 years and involved various control groups that all had coronary artery disease, and only one of these groups practiced meditation. Amazingly the group that practiced meditation had actually managed to reverse the effects of the illness. Meditation can also help to heal mental disturbances and correct psychological issues.

Photo Credit: SoulonSoul

In 2006, a doctor by the name of Ron Cavanaugh started a meditation program at Donaldson high security prison in Alabama. His course was called “Dhamma Brothers” and included a 10-day session in which inmates refrained from speaking and took on 100 full hours of meditation during the session. The results of this program were profound and greatly improved the lives and attitudes of the inmates. Many of the inmates said that they wished that they only would have known about meditation before they made the decisions that landed them in prison.

Woodstock Music and Art Festival in 1969 was one of the most iconic events of all time, which took place on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in Bethel, New York. Although the name of the event was Woodstock, the farm is located about 40 miles (or 65 km) southwest of Woodstock. The story of Woodstock is incredible. It was a truly once in a lifetime event that was created by a perfect storm of factors, at precisely the right time in history.

Over 400,000 people attended the event over that weekend of August 15th through 18th, of 1969, and many of these individuals had their own unique stories from the event. For example, a couple named Judy and Jerry Griffin met on their way Woodstock, and have been together ever since. The pair met after Judy’s car broke down on New York’s Tappan Zee Bridge, which is about 90 miles from the festival.

As Judy and her friends were stranded, Jerry and a group of his friends pulled over to help, and offered them a ride. Although Judy was hesitant, there was another woman in Jerry’s group, so she felt a bit safer taking the ride. One thing led to another, and the two ended up hitting it off and developing a relationship that lasted over 51 years, and resulted in two sons, and five grandchildren.

The couple told the story of how they met for years, but they didn’t have any pictures of the event, even though both of them had cameras with them. However, last summer when a friend was watching a PBS documentary commemorating the 50th anniversary of the festival called “Woodstock: Three Days that Defined a Generation,” they noticed a picture of the couple at the festval. After seeing the photo for themselves, the couple decided to recreate the picture.

The friend recognized them right away and sent them the picture. They couldnt believe that a picture had surfaced after all this time.

“For 50 years we’ve been looking for a picture of ourselves, and out of the blue one shows up. We’d known each other less than 48 hours when that was taken,” Jerry said

The couple ended up getting married in December of 1975 but they still celebrate their anniversary on the day that they met.

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“We always celebrate Aug. 15th—which is also my birthday and the day we met as our anniversary,” Judy says.

In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine listed it as number 19 of the 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll.

On March 19, 2019, the proposed line-up for Woodstock 50 was announced. This included some artists who performed at the original Woodstock festival in 1969. The event was to take place at Watkins Glen International, the race track in Watkins Glen, New York. However, the event was ultimately cancelled after investors lost faith in the event’s ability to make money. Still, the Woodstock legacy lives on through the booming global festival industry, with events going on all over the world, every weekend, that hope to replicate the magic captured by the legendary event in 1969.