Both the “mascot” for the page and many of the posts here feature dogs and puppies, as ambassadors of wholesomeness and downright cuteness. This is not a mistake or happy accident, we as human beings do really find a lot of joy in dogs and puppies in particular. It’s not surprising that “puppy dog eyes” as a phrase features so heavily in our lexicon.
A casual glance at wolf anatomy will show that they do not actually possess “puppy dog eyes,” Instead, this trait was both intentionally and probably unintentionally selected by humans because, at the end of the day, it makes us happy.
It’s not just dogs and puppies that get all the cuteness points, deer, cats, and a whole plethora of baby animals all fall into this category as well. We as humans tend to prefer “cute” animals to such a degree, that they are often more studied and well-known by most of the population due to overexposure. In other words, “Bambi” may have not been as popular if the titular character was, for example, a young tortoise.
Many of these ideas serve to remind us that the world isn’t all bad and isn’t exclusively defined by what we see in front of us on a screen. This is vital to remember because enough bad news and negativity can make a person feel hopeless and depressed. Hope is more than just a positive emotion, it has direct benefits for people’s psychological, mental, and even physical well-being.
Hope, generally independent of circumstances, is vital in a person’s recovery from illness and injury. While it’s not exactly possible to “will '' oneself to health, the belief that recovery is possible is connected with the mind’s ability to cope, and stress levels, which all ultimately do have some effect on the person’s health. Hope has also been shown to reduce PTSD symptoms in veterans, for example.
It’s not surprising that hope features as a major theme in film and literature, as well as major world religions. Faith, after all, is the hope that something will happen without hard evidence. From “A New Hope” to Aesop's fables, hope has found a way into many of our stories, both as a feature of a character's belief system and as a lesson for the viewer or reader.
Both knowingly and unknowingly, people have been searching for things that make them smile and create some feeling of hope. You’ve probably encountered a meme, post, or comment that uses some permutation of the phrase “Faith in Humanity Restored,” which tends to feature decapitations of human ideas and actions that showcase the best in us. This meme originated in 2000 and is still going strong, so that’s saying something.
