Author: By The Foundation for a Better Life
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Ludwig Van Beethoven wrote some of his greatest works when he couldn’t hear a note
While America was struggling to define its independence in the late 1700s, the upper echelons of European society were exploding with creativity. In a small Austrian town, a young musical prodigy was performing in the court chapel. The boy was studious and serious. He was taught by his father until the age of 11, when…
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Nikola Tesla’s mother encouraged him to look beyond his humble beginnings to the world stage
The last name that is most famous today for the car that bears his name began as a knowledge-obsessed schoolboy. One of five children, Nikola Tesla was intelligent and curious about the unknown forces in the world: electricity and magnetics. His father, an Orthodox priest, hoped his son would become a man of the cloth,…
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Treating people, even prisoners, with respect is what food service giant Bill Mouskondis is all about.
Bill Mouskondis is always smiling. He is the son of a Greek immigrant who started a food service company with an old truck and cases of dented cans scavenged from railroad cars. Bill remembers long days riding his bicycle as a kid, delivering restaurant supplies to local cafes. Before semi-retiring, he worked six days a…
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New York’s finest maintain a tradition of service and sacrifice
The Vigiano family has served New York City for four generations: grandfather, father, two sons, daughter-in-law and grandson. Two of them were lost on 9/11. This is their story, from the StoryCorps collection commemorating heroes from that day. New York’s finest maintain a tradition of service and sacrifice, often bridging generations of police officers and…
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How a group of ambitious high school kids are digging wells in Kenya
Cruise down Highway 1 through the little beach town of Laguna Beach in California and you’ll be charmed by the quaint shops, the sea breezes, the soothing sound of waves. This is where people come to relax, watch sunsets, read lazy books and let the stress of the modern world be carried away on riptides.…
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In a suburban neighborhood, the angst of the world still reaches a group of elementary kids
Max and his friends worry about the future of the world. They are 9 years old and not immune to the constant barrage of television news about war, the lingering pandemic, the anger in the airwaves. Bob is the old man on the street, a retired physicist who studies gamma rays in faraway deserts and…
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Norman Vaughan completed the Iditarod 13 times and climbed the 10,000-foot, icy mountain named after him at age 89
Some people are just made for adventure. The early explorers, who subjected themselves to privation, unknown elements and territories unheard of, left volumes of tales that inspired the next generation. But as the world became smaller, the wild ones who lived by their instincts began to thin out. Norman Vaughan was fascinated with the lives…
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The amazing story of the missing marathon runner who turned up 54 years later
We all have started on some task or set a goal for ourselves that we didn’t complete. Sometimes we lose interest or don’t have the willpower to keep going. And sometimes, we just forget about the task and move on, not seeing the purpose of it all — that is, until something stirs us inside,…
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How EMTs saved a life and then enjoyed living it together
Ask any first responder, and they’ll tell you the hardest calls you will ever get are those that involve a child. Many EMTs put their hearts on the line when kids are hurting. That was the case when a call came into an Indiana station about an injured person. At first, it seemed routine. But…
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How 18-year-old Barron Prize winner Austin Picinich is saving the salmon of Seattle by painting community murals
When you have big dreams, you need a big canvas. Austin Picinich’s dreams center on his home state of Washington and its dwindling salmon population. While streams flow downhill into the ocean, salmon make their way upstream to spawn. But recent droughts, commercial development and pollution have made it difficult for salmon to make the…