Inspiring Good News This Week, 4 True Stories and What They Teach Us

This week I read about a 13 year old, a retired FBI agent and an 85 year old judge.

Three very different people. One shared lesson.

Every age is the right age to begin.

So this Monday I’m gathering the most inspiring good news from the week, pulling out the key insight from each story, and handing you one small thing to try today. Coffee in hand? Let’s go.

Good News Shows Us That Meaningful Work Begins Whenever You Begin

This week’s inspiring good news includes a retired FBI agent who has rediscovered about 30 lost apple varieties, a 13 year old whose water saving app has reached over a million people, Navi Pillay winning the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, and endangered species making real comebacks. Together they show that purpose has room for every age and every starting point.

1. The Retired FBI Agent Who Became an Apple Detective

In 2012, Dave Benscoter was doing yard work for a fellow church member in Washington when he noticed her apple trees looked different from any he’d seen.

Curiosity took over.

So I jumped online, and I just basically started going down rabbit holes.
Dave Benscoter, Good Good Good

He and his friend E.J. Brandt cofounded the Lost Apple Project. They read old nature studies, family recipes and county fair newspapers, track down pre 1920 orchards, and send samples to experts at the Temperate Orchard Conservancy for DNA identification. Then they graft branches so each variety can grow again.

So far they’ve brought back about 30 apples the world thought were gone. One of them, the Kittageskee, was an apple an Arkansas farmer had searched for his whole life. The team found it in southern Idaho.

Key insight. Your skills travel with you. Benscoter used the same investigator instincts from his first career to give his second one deep meaning. The rabbit hole you’re curious about today might be your next calling.

Try this today. Write down one thing you’ve always been quietly curious about. Spend 20 minutes today going down that rabbit hole on purpose.

This reminds me so much of In Pursuit of Latent Wonderfulness. The wonder was always there, waiting in an old orchard.

2. A 13 Year Old Turned One Idea Into a Million Users

A 13 year old in New Jersey built a web app that helps families track their household water use so they can save more of it. Over one million people have now used it, according to Good Good Good’s weekly roundup and People.

Thirteen. One clear need. One simple tool. A million homes.

Key insight. Start with the need right in front of you. She looked at something ordinary, a running faucet, and built a solution that scaled. Small, specific ideas often travel the farthest.

Try this today. Name one small annoyance in your home or work this week. Write one sentence on how you’d fix it, then take the first step before dinner.

Want a weekly nudge for small fixes like this? That’s the whole spirit of 52 Systems in 52 Weeks, which started yesterday with the Birthday Reminder System.

3. A Bus Driver’s Daughter Won the Nobel Peace Prize

Navi Pillay was born in Durban, South Africa, in 1941, the fifth of eight children. Her father drove a bus and took fishing jobs to support the family, according to her biography.

Under apartheid, she became the first woman of color to open her own law practice in Natal in 1967. She defended Nelson Mandela and other activists, earned a doctorate from Harvard Law School, served as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court, and became the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

On October 9, 2026, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded her the Nobel Peace Prize for promoting peace and international law.

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 goes to a person who with exceptional courage and integrity has led the way
Norwegian Nobel Committee, press release

Key insight. Your starting point shapes your strength. Pillay began with every obstacle her era could stack in front of her, and each one became fuel for a life of justice.

Try this today. Think of one obstacle in your path right now. Ask yourself what strength it’s building in you, and write that strength down.

I wrote about this exact idea in What Stands in the Way Becomes the Way. Pillay is living proof.

4. Nature Is Making Comebacks Too

The good news reaches far beyond people this week.

The wētāpunga is back. New Zealand’s giant insect, believed to be the heaviest in the world, rebounded after more than 11,000 were released onto 10 predator free islands over 15 years. It’s now officially nationally increasing, Positive News reports.
Fifty seven new species. Scientists discovered 57 new species in the deep waters off Argentina, Good Good Good reports.
A jaguar returns. Trail cameras caught a rare jaguar near the Guatemala and Honduras border, a hopeful sign of recovery in the region, according to Good Good Good.
Longer lives again. Global life expectancy in 2023 returned to roughly its 2019 level, according to World Health Organization data reported by UN News.

Key insight. Recovery is real when we give life room to grow. Fifteen patient years turned an endangered insect into a thriving one. Your own healing works on a similar timeline. Steady care, given space, adds up.

Try this today. Give one part of your life more room today. Five minutes of quiet, an earlier bedtime, a walk outside. Small space, real recovery.

For more on giving yourself room to recover, read The Seven Kinds of Rest.

5. Turn This Good News Into a Two Minute Gratitude Practice

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada, so gratitude feels just right.

Psychologists Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough found that people who regularly wrote down what they were grateful for felt better about their lives as a whole and more optimistic about the week ahead, in a classic 2003 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

So instead of asking what went sideways this week, try asking what went right, and who made it happen.

Write three good things from the past week. One personal, one from someone you love, and one from the wider world.
Next to each, write why it happened.
Send a quick thank you to one person on your list.

Pair it with a morning affirmation from yesterday’s guide to affirmations and you’ve got a beautiful start to your week.

Your Monday Action List

Spend 20 minutes on one curiosity rabbit hole.
Name one small fix your life is asking for and take the first step.
Write down the strength your current obstacle is building.
Give yourself five minutes of space to recover.
Write three good things and send one thank you.

Quick Answers About This Week’s Good News

Who is the retired FBI agent saving lost apples?

Dave Benscoter, a retired FBI agent from Washington, cofounded the Lost Apple Project with E.J. Brandt. Since 2012 the team has rediscovered about 30 apple varieties once thought lost across eastern Washington, western Idaho and northern Oregon.

Who won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize?

Navi Pillay, the South African judge and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting peace and international law. She grew up in Durban as the daughter of a bus driver.

What is the wētāpunga comeback?

The wētāpunga, a giant New Zealand insect believed to be the world’s heaviest, has rebounded after more than 11,000 were released onto 10 predator free islands over 15 years. Its status changed from nationally endangered to nationally increasing.

How do I start a gratitude practice?

Write three specific good things each evening, including why each one happened. Research by Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough found people who regularly listed blessings felt better about their lives and were more optimistic.

Is there a right age to start something meaningful?

Every age works. This week’s stories feature a 13 year old inventor, a retired FBI agent and an 85 year old Nobel laureate, each proving that meaningful work begins whenever you choose to begin.

Every Age Is the Right Age to Begin

Thirteen. Retired. Eighty five. Age was only ever a number.

The point is the moment you decide to begin. And that moment can be this one.

Start early. Start curious. Start today.

Complement this with In Pursuit of Latent Wonderfulness, Angela Duckworth on Situated and Norman Vincent Peale Quotes for Every Morning.

Want a calm, intentional start every day? Hold Until Sunrise is our little app for mornings that matter.

Good news, every week, right in your inbox. Join us here.

With love, Paolo

Sources

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Carry this into tomorrow morning

The practice in this post lives in an app we built, Hold Until Sunrise. Your alarm becomes a moment of stillness. You hold your phone, rest with one affirmation, and let the sunrise welcome you into the day. Begin tomorrow gently and on your own terms. Find it on the App Store here.

Every Age Is the Right Age to Begin, 4 True Stories From This Week