As a Gen X parent of Gen Z teens and young adults, I’m used to cringing at things from 80s and 90s movies that haven’t aged well. However, a beloved film from my youth that I thought they’d love, “Dead Poets Society,” sparked some unexpectedly negative responses in my kids, shining a spotlight on generational differences I didn’t even know existed. I probably watched “Dead Poets Society” a dozen or more times as a teen and young adult, always finding it aesthetically beautiful, tragically sad, and profoundly inspiring. That film was one of the reasons I decided to become an English teacher, inspired as I was by Robin Williams’ portrayal of the passionately unconventional English teacher, John Keating. Banger line from Dead Poets Society: “Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are all noble pursuits, and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.” pic.twitter.com/rv4KtXaZhV— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) April 12, 2024 The way Mr. Keating shared his love of beauty and poetry with a class of high school boys at a stuffy prep school, encouraging them to “seize the day” and “suck all the marrow out of life,” hit me right in my idealistic youthful heart. And when those boys stood up on their desks for him at the end of the film, defying the headmaster who held their futures in his hands? What a moving moment of triumph and support. My Gen Z kids, however, saw the ending differently. They did love the feel of the film, which I expected with its warm, cozy, comforting vibe (at least up until the last 20 minutes or so). They loved Mr. Keating, because how can you not? But when the movie ended, I was taken aback hearing “That was terrible!” and “Why would you traumatize me like that?” before they also admitted, “But it was so gooood!“ The “traumatize” part I actually get. I’d forgotten just how incredibly heavy the film gets all of a sudden. (A caveat I feel the need to add here: Gen Z uses the word “traumatize” not in a clinical sense but as an exaggerative term for being hit unexpectedly by something sad or disturbing. They know they weren’t literally traumatized by the movie.) But in discussing it further, I discovered three main generational differences that impacted my kids’ “Dead Poets Society” viewing experience and what they took away from it. 1) Gen Z wants systemic change, not individual wins The first thing my 20-year-old said when the credits rolled was, “What? That’s terrible! Nothing changed! He got fired and the school is still run by a bunch of stodgy old white men forcing everyone to conform!” My immediate response was, “Yeah, but he changed those boys’ individual lives, didn’t he? He helped broaden their minds and see the world differently.” I realized that Gen X youth valued individuals going against the old, outdated system and doing their own thing, whereas Gen Z values the dismantling of the system itself. For Gen X, Mr. Keating and the boys taking a stand was inspiring, but the fact that it didn’t actually change anything outside of their own individual experiences stuck like a needle in my Gen Z kids’ craw. 2) Gen Z expects a warning before tragedy hits To be fair, I did tell them there was “a sad part” before the movie started. But I’d forgotten how deeply devastating the last part of the movie was, so my daughter’s “Why would you do that to me?!” was somewhat warranted. “I thought maybe a dog would die or something!” she said. No one really expected one of the main characters to die by suicide and the beloved teacher protagonist to be blamed for his death, but I’d somehow minimized the tragedy of it all in my memory so my “sad part” warning was a little insufficient. But also to be fair, Gen X youth never got any such warnings, we were just blindsided by tragic plot twists all the time. As kids, we cheered on Atreyu trying to save his horse from the swamp in “The NeverEnding Story” only to watch him drown. Adults showed us “Watership Down” thinking it would be a cute little animated film about bunnies. We were slapped in the face by the tragic child death in “My Girl,” which was marketed as a sweet coming of age movie. Gen Z was raised in the era of trigger warnings and trauma-informed practices, while Gen X kids watched a teacher die on live TV in our classrooms with zero follow-up on how we were processing it. Those differences became apparent real quick at the end of this movie. 3) Gen Z calls out boundary-crossing behavior fast The other reaction I wasn’t expecting was the utter disdain my girls showed for Knox Overstreet, the sweet-but-over-eager character who fell for the football player’s cheerleader girlfriend. His boundary-crossing attempts to woo her were always cringe, but for Gen X, cringe behavior in the name of love was generally either overlooked, tolerated, or sometimes even celebrated. (Standing on a girl’s lawn in the middle of the night holding a full-volume stereo over your head was peak romance for Gen X, remember.) For Gen Z, the only thing worse than cringe is predatory behavior, which Knox’s obsessiveness and pushiness could arguably be seen as. My own young Gen X lens saw Knox and said, “That’s a bit much, dude. Take it down a notch or three.” My Gen Z daughters’ lens said, “That guy’s a total creepo. She needs to run far the other way.” On one hand, I was proud of them for recognizing red flag behaviors and calling them out. On the other hand, I saw how little room there is for nuance in their perceptions, which was… interesting. A generational gap, not a wrong turn To be clear, I don’t think my Gen Z kids’ reactions to “Dead Poets Society” are wrong; they’re just different than mine were at their age. We’re usually on the same page when it comes to these kinds of analyses, so seeing them have a drastically different reaction to something I loved at their age was really something. Now I’m wondering what other favorite movies from my youth I should show them to see if they view those differently as well, hopefully without “traumatizing” them too much with the experience. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated. The post I showed my Gen Z kids ‘Dead Poets Society’ and their angry reactions to it floored me appeared first on Upworthy.

Graduating from high school is a major milestone, but for a high school student in Oahu, Hawaii, it was a hard-fought achievement. Eric Schultz graduated from high school at 18 after years of homelessness. Schultz earned his diploma from Waianae High School, where he celebrated the big day with his peers and supportive community. “I was so grateful to just walk to the stage and grab my diploma,” Schultz told WBRC News. “I was gonna cry, but I just held it in, and I just walked the stage.” Overcoming years of homelessness Schultz’s journey with homelessness began when he was 15 as his parents battled addiction. “I was living in my car for almost about a year, and I was still going to school at the same time,” he previously told Hawaii News Now. “It didn’t change my view on anything. I just kept working toward my goal to graduate.” According to WBRC News, the latest Point-in-Time count found 802 homeless minors on Oahu, including Schultz. Back in February 2026, he spoke about seeing other families effected by homelessness at a donation giveaway. He shared, “Seeing all these kids out here today, it’s just hurtful, hurts me.” In a May interview with Hawaii News Now, he shared, “I am still at the transitioning home up in Kahumana Farms. It is called RYSE. I couldn’t find a guardian that could take care of me that was blood-related because everything has to be blood.” View this post on Instagram His hanai auntie stepped up Schultz had lots of support from his local community, especially from a woman named Desiree Adams. Adams shared with WBRC News that Schultz reached out to her for help and food, and she quickly decided to become one of his “hanai aunties” to support him along the way. According to the University of Hawaii at Hilo, “hanai” is the “Hawaiian word for adoption… its derivation meaning to feed or nourish. Hanai, as it was traditionally practiced in Hawaiian culture, referred to the situation where a child was taken permanently to be reared, educated, and loved by someone other than natural parents, usually grandparents or other relatives.” “He used to come over a lot because he was hungry and he didn’t have any food to eat,” Adams said. She shared that Schultz lived with her family for over a year, so long as he followed her rules and curfew. “He said, ‘Will you help me? Will you help me go back to school?’ And so we took him back to school, got the paperwork, worked with his parents,” she added. “His parents were very supportive of me helping him.” Her support undeniably helped Schultz make it to graduation. “He thanks me a lot, but I said I don’t want any credit for this accomplishment,” Adams said. “You made the choice to change, and you made the choice to set your goals and follow your goals.” Schultz shares his future plans After graduating, Schultz said he planned to attend trade school for plumbing. He also said he would keep helping his community and others struggling with homelessness in his area. At the time of the interview, he was living at a transitional shelter operated by Residential Youth Services and Empowerment in Oahu.  “I hope my story can touch other people to go out at their schools to help find funding, or stuff to help out the community. Anything to help out,” he said. This article originally appeared in May. It has been updated. The post After years of living in homeless shelters and his car, Hawaiian teenager graduates high school appeared first on Upworthy.

Vincent van Gogh is world-famous for his paintings, though he didn’t live long enough to see his own success. Since he died in 1890, his works have been analyzed by countless art scholars and historians, with more and more of his unique artistic genius being revealed over time. One of his paintings took over 100 years to be fully appreciated for its subtle allusion to a famous painting motif. “Café Terrace at Night” portrays people eating at an outdoor café at night, using van Gogh’s signature style and color palette (famously utilizing little to no black paint). But that’s not all. Here is the painting. What do you notice? “Café Terrace at Night” by Vincent van Gogh, 1888 (Public Domain) Did van Gogh hide The Last Supper? Look closely at the golden lit area of the painting. Count how many people are on the terrace (including the person mostly hidden behind the server). Note the appearance of the server. How about the shadowy figure leaving the terrace on the left? Do you see the subtle cross in the window behind the server’s head? Van Gogh appears to have hidden “The Last Supper” in plain sight in this painting. Twelve diners, one for each disciple, on the terrace. Jesus serving them. Judas in shadow slipping away. The cross behind Jesus’s head. It’s not a huge stretch. Van Gogh was certainly no stranger to Christianity. His father was a pastor, and he himself had trained to be a preacher. He served as a missionary with impoverished coal miners, earning the nickname earning the nickname “The Christ of the Coal Mine.” When church officials did not renew his contract, van Gogh turned to painting. Not terribly interested in creating overtly religious paintings like his contemporaries, he preferred instead to depict the lives of the everyday people he’d set out to serve. However, the two were not so mutually exclusive. Art historians have pointed to religious symbolism in van Gogh’s works, even in scenes that don’t appear to have a religious theme. Despite van Gogh writing to his brother, Theo, “Of course there’s no question of me doing anything from the Bible,” biblical symbols show up in many of his paintings anyway. Meet the researcher behind the theory Independent researcher Jared Baxter presented his theory that Van Gogh depicted The Last Supper in “Café Terrace at Night” in 2015. In a two-part series, he laid out all the evidence that led him to the conclusion, and some art scholars have backed him up. “Vincent painted in his own time, with an eye to the future, not the past,” Baxter wrote. “He was inspired by his predecessors but refused to merely emulate them. Further, he could not depict angels, magi or shepherds whom he had never seen. Instead, he found the divine in nature and the sacred in everyday people from peasants and sand barge workers to matronly cradle rockers. His form of innovation was simply extracting these “common, everyday” scenes from reality and imbuing them, through his vast knowledge of history’s artwork, with touches from previous masters. The implication is that within the ordinary is the sacred; maybe even bourgeois drinkers on a radiant outdoor terrace at night.” Vincent Van Gogh (left) and brother Theo (right) Around the time of his painting “Café Terrace at Night,” van Gogh had written his brother Theo that he had a “tremendous need for, shall I say the word, for religion.” Perhaps that feeling prompted the allusion. However, we don’t have any definitive communication from van Gogh himself about any Last Supper intention with the painting. “You know when you’re interpreting art, you’ve got to leave open the possibility that you’re not correct … there can never be 100 percent certain,” Baxter told The Huffington Post. “I think there’s enough information and enough evidence to at least make a pretty good case.” Indeed. It’s just wild that it took over 100 years for someone to make that case. This article originally appeared in July. It has been updated. The post It took 100 years for someone to point out what van Gogh had hidden in his ‘Café Terrace at Night’ appeared first on Upworthy.

Dogs can be weird. Any dog owner will tell you that, but typically their shenanigans are just personality quirks. Unfortunately for Colleen Ferguson of Kent, England, her dog’s weird behavior wasn’t just a silly personality thing. For several weeks, Ferguson’s German Shepherd was obsessively sniffing her mouth. This was a new behavior that she found quite odd. The dog, Inca, was only two years old, but she seemed to know something was wrong with her owner and was doing her best to let her know. Inca constantly sniffed around Ferguson’s mouth and frowned. A woman and her dog outside. Photo credit: Canva How Inca knew something was wrong The dog’s persistence caused the then 60-year-old woman to become concerned, which led her to the dentist. Everything checked out fine, but Inca was still frowning after sniffing Ferguson’s mouth. This prompted Ferguson to visit her doctor to be tested for other things that might change the smell of her breath. According to Medical News Today, diabetes can cause the breath to smell differently. Gluten intolerance and Celiac disease can also cause bad breath, according to Imperial Dental Center. Ferguson was cleared of any gut-related issues after tests from her doctor. Yet Inca would not stop telling her something was wrong. Growing more concerned about her dog’s new behavior, Ferguson decided to do a full-body scan to rule out anything unusual. “Her behavior towards me changed, she just started homing in on my mouth. Every time she could get a sniff of my mouth she would frown,” Ferguson told The Mirror. “She just had this focused intent on my mouth, and you couldn’t push her away until you had done an outbreath. When she got that she would give me such a look and walk away. In no way did I expect lung cancer at all. It was such a shock because I am a non-smoker, and because I taught biology, I was very anti-smoking.” Turns out, Inca was trying to tell her she had a tumor growing in her lungs. Thanks to the dog’s keen nose and insistent behavior, Ferguson was able to catch the cancer early. Before long, the science teacher was off to surgery, where doctors removed a golf-ball-sized tumor. Doctors operating on a patient. Photo credit: Canva “The surgeon just said, ‘That dog saved you, now go live your life,’” Ferguson told the BBC. Science is catching up to dogs’ noses This remarkable discovery took place in 2015, and scientists inspired by dogs like Inca have been working on a machine that can smell like a dog. Dr. Andreas Mershin, who led this research at MIT for nearly two decades, has since spun the project into a company called RealNose.ai, which continues training an “e-nose” with AI to detect cancer. In May 2026, the device was demonstrated to Queen Camilla, patron of Medical Detection Dogs, at Clarence House, and researchers continue testing it against urine samples to see if it can match a dog’s accuracy. Dr. Andreas Mershin, a physicist who led MIT’s Label Free Research Group for nearly 20 years, developed the device that is now being used to screen donated urine samples. The samples were prescreened by Medical Detection Dogs, and the results of the e-nose will be compared with those of the dogs. A dog sits in the grass. Photo credit: Canva “This is a major milestone,” Mershin told Medical Detection Dogs. “We’ve worked to emulate the dogs’ abilities and train machines in a similar way, rewarding them for correct identifications. It’s like giving our devices a new sense: a nose. Phones already have eyes and ears, but machine olfactors are the next frontier in health technology and AI sensing. This could transform the world of diagnosis, screening, and early detection.” While the e-nose is currently designed to detect prostate cancer, once it’s perfected, the mechanical nose will hopefully detect other cancers as well. A second chance thanks to her dog Ferguson, for one, is thankful that her dog’s nose detected her lung cancer early, giving her a renewed chance at life. Inca, now around 14 years old, has since been trained as a recovery assistance dog to help Ferguson manage the anxiety that followed her diagnosis. “I was just so lucky,” she told The Mirror. “Every day is special with her. To catch it at stage one is just remarkable. I don’t know how I would have survived with radiotherapy and chemotherapy. She saved me a lot of fuss. It was meant to be.” This article originally appeared in March. It has been updated. The post Her dog wouldn’t stop sniffing her breath. She thought it was weird but it saved her life. appeared first on Upworthy.

Brent Cabahug moved from the Philippines to Minnesota with his mom and sister. He was a high school senior at Stillwater Area High School when the story broke, and Walmart was his first job. He had been saving up to buy a car. On a Tuesday evening in January, an elderly woman came through his checkout line and her card kept declining. The line grew restless. Cabahug walked around the register and paid her $80 grocery bill himself. Then he went back to work. Another customer in line, a mom of four named Dani Dircks, watched the whole thing happen, as reported by WCCO. “I watched this cashier, knowing nothing about him, walk around, knowing nothing about that lady, and he didn’t care,” she said. “He didn’t care in that moment who she was, who she loved, who she voted for.” Dircks wanted to do something. She learned Cabahug was saving for a car, planned to help his family buy a house after graduation, and intended to become a nurse. A leg injury had ended his volleyball career, and he’d redirected his ambitions toward healthcare. She started a GoFundMe. It has since raised more than $18,000 toward a $20,000 goal. Cabahug didn’t pay that bill expecting anything back. He paid it because that’s apparently just who he is. The rest took care of itself. The story brings to mind this viral classic: Kindness like his rarely stays quiet At the end of the day, Cabahug wasn’t trying to start anything. He saw someone struggling, and he did the thing that felt obvious to him. That’s it. No hesitation, no calculation about what it might cost him or what he might get back. It’s the kind of quiet decency that usually goes unnoticed, except this time someone happened to be watching, and she refused to let it stay that way. What’s happened since says something hopeful about how these stories spread. A single moment at a checkout line turned into hundreds of strangers chipping in toward a car, nursing school, and a family’s first home. Cabahug didn’t ask for any of it. He just showed up for someone who needed him, and his community showed up right back. This article originally appeared in April. It has been updated. The post An elderly woman’s card kept declining at Walmart. The teen cashier didn’t hesitate for a second. appeared first on Upworthy.