Amid the gloom of our daily lives, notably the latest horror of an eight-year-old girl being abducted and slaughtered, it was good to read two stories that warmed the heart, both carried in our Monday edition.

First was the wonderful account of a Jamaican father and son who experienced the novel achievement of flying on an American Airlines commercial jet from Miami to Kingston with the son, a pilot, being at the controls of the aircraft.

Captain Diego McKnight had only recently qualified to fly in the airline’s international department when he was assigned his first flight to — of all places — his hometown, Kingston, Jamaica. His dad, Leighton McKnight, a beloved chartered accountant and philanthropist in Kingston, surprised him by booking himself on the flight from Miami.

For the elder McKnight, the icing on the cake was when his son came on the intercom to make a passenger announcement and used the opportunity to inform the flight that his dad was on-board. The entire plane broke out in applause and he was invited to tour the cockpit, sitting in the pilot’s seat for photographs.

The pilot spoke of his boyhood days at his grandmother’s house, which is in the approach path of aircraft landing in Kingston, watching the planes arriving and taking off and dreaming of one day being a pilot himself.

And what an airline on which to achieve this special event. American Airlines, one of the world’s mega airlines, offers 6,800 daily flights to more than 365 destinations in 61 countries, serving more than 200 million customers annually up to recently.

“My trip was taking me from Miami, where I grew up, to Kingston where I am from, and back to Miami en route to Dallas-Forth Worth, Texas, where I now reside. It was a long-cherished dream, a huge deal for me,” said McKnight after completing his virgin flight and being greeted by Jamaican family members at Norman Manley International Airport.

Daddy McKnight was understandably touched, saying: “I can’t find the words to tell you how moved I was, the pride I felt as his dad, that Diego was getting his first AA flight to Jamaica, and that I was able to be on that flight. Mi head swell!”

For his part, young McKnight encouraged aspirants: “Those who are still working towards your dreams, keep going, keep working at it. Our dreams do not always come true at the time that you want them to, but that does not mean they will not come true.”

Our second story is that of the generosity of United States-based Cornwall College old boys who, after finding themselves with an excess of IT gifts, decided to share it with 31 other Jamaican schools serving 35,000 students who were starving of such equipment.

The Cornwall College Old Boys’ Association Mid-Atlantic United States chapter is to be commended for being selfless, shunning old school rivalries and inviting other Jamaican organisations to work together to provide devices and agricultural equipment for schools back home.

Their ‘Share the Wealth’ initiative started with 25 schools last year. The effort was clearly needed as evidenced by the fact that more organisations, including other past student associations and the Sandals Foundation, are willing to join in to the benefit of a bigger number of schools.

A shipment of the equipment is on now its way to Jamaica and we are assured it can’t arrive too soon.

Well done.