First, a happy Mother’s Day this past weekend to all mothers in the Monday Morning Mojo community. “Motherhood” has been at the center of discussion these past few weeks, as we have been reminded of the importance of protecting freedom of choice and its connection to motherhood.

While news of the day, week and month can be very worrying, there are a lot of great stories demonstrating the best in humanity, and bringing those to a wider audience group has been one purpose of the Monday Morning Mojo.

Some Baseball Inspiration

First up, is the priceless, emotional response last week of a young New York Yankees fan of right fielder Aaron Judge. Nine-year-old Derek Rodriguez was attending the Yankees-Blue Jays game in Toronto, and he was handed his hero’s home run ball by a very generous spectator. Check out this emotional moment when he received the ball.

What was equally inspiring was the fact that Judge met the young fan on the following day to sign the ball. Check out this interaction for a bit of emotion this week. Thanks goes out to Dan Krassenstein for bringing this to my attention.

I personally loved this story by an umpire that apologized last week for a bad call. Referees are people too and they get treated awfully sometimes. It was good to see a bit of humility here.

Finally, in the baseball world, I loved this story about a young man playing in the Miracle League, a non-profit group that provides opportunities for young people with disabilities to play baseball. Check out this very inspiring story about a young man coming up to bat in this league and listen closely to the commentary.

And Now For Some Pandemic Inspiration

From Shanghai, China, thanks to my wife, Lisa Wei, for bringing this to my attention, the story of Liu Jing Hong is most inspirational. After a series of mixed results in business, this late 40’s exercise enthusiast, and his wife, who are both friends of the famous singer, Jay Chou,  have found their life’s purpose. The story of how they lead people through exercises daily, using Jay Chou’s music, and what they have done to stay relevant has caught the attention of more than 60 million people who find them entertaining and their exercises easy to do with great results.  Check this out for a flavor of how they approach this.

Inspiration For The Graduates Out There

As we enter graduation season, and a personal shout out to Rudy Buttlar, my nephew and Orley Krugel, my niece, who are both graduating this year, we must never forget to celebrate the important moments in life. I thought this video from a high school graduation, from pre-pandemic days in the Philippines, was most enjoyable. From the country that claims, “it is more fun in the Philippines,” a bit of graduation inspiration.

A Concluding Thought For The Week

Finally, last week my good friend’s, Chad and Jennifer Doane, posted a story about a pilot coming to the rescue of their daughter, Emma, who was stranded in St. Louis because of a re-routed flight. The hotel she was sent to would not take the credit card of her parents over the phone, and fortunately a pilot stepped up and paid for Emma’s hotel room. This random act of kindness and pure generosity deserves greater attention and reminds us that we should all continue to pay things forward.

Wishing everyone a great week ahead and more of such stories above.

Onward and upwards!