It’s no secret that we tend to focus on the negative aspects of life, whether past events, current news, or current situations; people look at the glass half empty. Even for people who look at the glass half full, it can be offset by news media mostly sharing bad news. So, to dig through the history pages and pull out the kindest moments in history.

One of history’s most well-known and heartwarming acts of kindness was the Christmas Day truce between English and German troops in 1914 during the First World War. After five months of battling on the Western Front, troops on both sides called for a ceasefire on Christmas Day. While many informal truces had happened before, over 100,000 soldiers participated in the festive truce. It wasn’t just a joint ceasefire, though, as many soldiers from both sides fraternized. Soldiers socialized, exchanged gifts, and sometimes played European football in the vast land between the two sides. When discussing famous cases of kindness, few are as heartwarming and unique as this one.

In March 2011, a major earthquake hit Japan, which disabled several of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant’s reactors, resulting in the spilling out of radioactive damage to the surrounding area. Knowing the government would need individuals willing to help, the Veterans Corp offered to step in and help with the cleanup efforts. Comprising several retired engineers in their 60s and older, its members realized that any damages caused by environmental radiation would likely not take effect until many of them had passed on. Armed with this knowledge, the group decided it was a better option than younger people who would likely live with the effects of the radiation. It is a selfless gesture embodying the mantra of “if you could, you should.”

In 1987, the rhetoric around AIDS was fear-inducing and alarmist. The public was unsure about the nature of the disease, how dangerous it was, and how it could be transmitted. When Princess Diana visited a hospital in London, she was photographed shaking the hand of a patient who had AIDS without using gloves. This moment of compassion changed the dialogue around AIDS, challenged the false narrative that the disease is transmitted by touch, and showed Diana’s unwavering kindness to others.