43 Powerful Moments Showing How Human Compassion Can Overcome Violence

When all we hear about are the casualty figures, it can be difficult to remember the immense human compassion that thrives during times of violence. The people in these photographs said “no” to hate and instead chose love. They should serve as an example to us all.

1. Pvt. Dick L. Powell shares his meal with a puppy. [Korean War, c, 1951]

2. The community of Ferguson, Missouri, band together to protect stores from looting. [2014]

3. A medic bandages the injured foot of a child while his younger brother looks on. [World War II, 1944]

4. Christians protect Muslims as they pray during the Egyptian revolution. [Cairo, Egypt, 2011]

5. A Russian police officer carries a released baby from the school seized by heavily armed masked men and women in the town of Beslan. [2004]

6. An infantryman is comforted by his comrade. [Korean War, c. 1950 – 1953]

7. A Bosnian soldier cares for a baby he saved during the evacuation of Goražde. [1995]

8. A soviet soldier is given water by a Ukrainian woman after being captured. [1941]

9. A German soldier applies a dressing to a wounded Russian civilian. [World War II, c. 1941]

10. An Afghan soldier carries a crying child away from the scene of a recent explosion. [Afghanistan War, c. 2001 – 2014]

11. A German soldier shares his rations with a Russian mother and her child. [World War II, c. 1941]

12. Egyptians embrace the army after they refuse orders to fire on civilians [Egyptian Revolution, 2011]

13. Journalist Raymond Walker rushes across a bridge into France with a child that he saved from the Spanish Civil War. [1936]

14. An East German soldier ignores orders to let no one pass and helps a boy, who was found on the opposite side from his family, cross the newly formed ‘Berlin Wall’. [Cold War, 1961]

15. American soldiers of the 4th Armored Division push a trapped car carrying two seriously wounded German soldiers. [World War II, 26 January, 1945]

16. Joseph Dwyer carries an injured boy away from fire and to safety. [Iraq War, c. 2003 – 2011]

17. Petty Officer Ryan Lee and Valdo snuggle on a hospital floor after a lucky escape. [Afghanistan War, 2011]

18. A woman defends a wounded protester from a military bulldozer [Egypt, 2013]

19. Marine Sergeant Frank Praytor feeds a kitten after it’s mother was killed by mortar fire. [Korean War, 1953]

20. U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman Richard Barnett holds a child after she was separated from her family during a firefight. [Iraq War, 2003]

21. A French soldier helps a family fleeing from the Spanish Civil War. [c. 1938]

22. A Ukrainian soldier kisses his girlfriend through the gate of a base surrounded by pro-Russian militants [2014]

23. A Jordanian soldier warms the hands of a Syrian baby evacuated from the country. [Syrian Civil War, c. 2013]

24. A wounded soldier is comforted by a priest as sniper fire peppers the concrete around them. [El Porteñazo Uprising, Venezuela, 1962]

25. A Tunisian girl hands a soldier a rose after the army refused to fire on protesters and declared that it would “defend the revolution.” [Tunisian Revolution, 2011]

26. A football match breaks out between British and German soldiers on the Western Front as they abandon their trenches. [World War I, 24 December, 1914]

27. A boy leads an old blind man through war-torn streets. [Korean War, c, 1951]

28. An American soldier holds the hand of a young Afghan girl. [Afghanistan War, 2010]

29. A soldier shares water and food with three children on Saipan. [c. July, 1944]

30. German soldiers play with a stray kitten. [World War II, c. 1943]

31. Three German soldiers help a Frenchman stuck in the muddy fields of Verdun. [World War I, c. 1916]

32. Protesters carry a wounded policeman to safety. [Turkey, 2013]

33. American troops treat a wounded dog. [World War II, 1944]

34. A soldier chats with a little girl. [2011]

35. Keshia Thomas, 18, protects a white supremacist from an angry mob. [1996]

36. A soldier makes friends with a puppy. [Iraq War, c. 2003 – 2011]

37. American soldiers take Dutch children to a dance. [World War II, c. 1944 – 1945]

38. A native of Papua New Guinea, who were nicknamed ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels’ because of their hairstyle and kind nature, escorts a wounded Australian soldier out of the bush. [World War II, 1942]

39. A Soviet soldier shares his cigarettes with German prisoners. [World War II, July, 1943]

40. A brave priest organises a human shield between protesters and police. [Ukrainian Revolution, 2013]

41. Two American soldiers try to comfort an upset girl with a puppy. [World War II, 1944]

42. Officer Joselito Sevilla is comforted after being berated by a protester. [Manila, Philippines, 2013]

43. A soldier runs from the battlefield with two small Vietnamese children in his arms. [Vietnam War, c. 1955 – 1975]