Good News Tuesday

Okay, so by now you've seen dozens of videos of craziness on airplanes these days, with arguments, fights, angry flight attendants — even law enforcement.

Is all hope lost? Is there no looking out for each other left in the world? Is it really as bad as it looks on social media? 

Well, maybe it is. Or, just maybe, there is some hope.

TigerBlog certainly saw the good side of humanity on a flight Sunday afternoon. He was in Row 9, which he had to himself. Across the aisle was a woman named Jazmien, who was traveling with three young children, one-year-old Milliana, two-year-old Jaquez and five-year-old JaMarion. 

Jazmien was on the aisle. The youngest was squirming in her lap, dropping her bottle and generally doing what one year olds do. The five year old was by the window saying "mommy, mommy, mommy" and the two year old was, well, sobbing, loudly and seemingly uncontrollably.

In the row in front of TB sat a woman named Beatrice in the middle and her 11-year-old daughter Aubree by the window. The aisle seat was free. 

As the plane pushed back, Beatrice turned around to Jazmien and said she'd hold the baby. In the next minute or so, the baby fell asleep, the two year old stopped crying and the five year old settled in. For the remainder of the two hours and 13 minutes of the flight? Everyone was happy.

Beatrice, for her part, held the baby for the entire trip. Only once did the baby stir, and she looked up at Beatrice with a "Where in the world am I; do I know you?" look on her face before falling right back to sleep.

Would you have done what Beatrice did? In addition to her 11 year old, Beatrice also had an 18 year old in the back. Are you ready to jump in at a moment's notice to help out a total stranger? 

For her part, Jazmien was wildly appreciative of everything that Beatrice did for her, and for TB, who helped get her food out of the overhead bin and who carried her heavy suitcase for her off the plane. Both Jazmien and Beatrice are saints — Jazmian for bringing three little children to her grandmother's — so their great-grandmother's — 95th birthday and for never once, through all of the chaos, even remotely losing her patience and Beatrice for what she did to help. 

It was motherhood at its best. Too bad TB didn't videotape them, because maybe, just maybe, those two could have helped give you, as they did for TB, a little bit of faith in humanity, which these days is in far too short supply. To both of them, TB says thank you.

In tribute to Jazmien and Beatrice, TigerBlog is only offering good news, not that he usually dwells on the negative here. 

So for your Good News Tuesday, there's the Princeton women's basketball team, which is back in the national rankings at No. 25. The Tigers are 16-3 overall, 5-0 in the Ivy League and the winner of 11 straight as they get ready to host Yale and Brown this weekend.

It's happened so many times by now that if you're a Princeton fan you might be taking it for granted, but you shouldn't. This is an incredible achievement even once, let alone how often these Tigers have done so.

More Good News for Tuesday: The Princeton men's squash team defeated Harvard 6-3 Saturday afternoon, giving the Tigers their first win over the Crimson in 11 seasons. 

Princeton, ranked third nationally, is now 4-0 in the league, tied with second-ranked Penn atop the Ivy League, one game ahead of 4-1 Yale in the loss column. Those three meet up this weekend, with Penn at Yale Saturday (Princeton is at No. 1 Trinity that day) and Princeton at Yale Sunday. Princeton and Penn then meet in Jadwin on Feb. 10. 

Make sure you're there. If you've never been to a big squash match in Jadwin, do so. They're fabulous.

Keeping with the theme today, there were several big-time performances by the women's track and field team at the meet at the Armory over the weekend. The biggest, perhaps, came from the Distance Medley Relay team of Maggie Liebich, Hannah Riggins, Maddie Cramer and Fiona Max, who ran the fastest time in Division I in the 2024 indoor season to date. 

Is there more good news? There always is with Princeton Athletics. 

The rest of the world? It's not as reliable. 

That's why the actions of two women on a plane meant so much.