I have a notebook where I keep articles about people who have inspired me. Whenever I feel overwhelmed by the world, I look through the notebook and remind myself that one person can always make a great difference.
This week I added Wu Ping to the notebook. Wu is a 49-year-old restaurant entrepreneur in Chongqing, China, who refuses to sell her home to developers.
The 280 houses surrounding that of Ms. Wu's were all sold, and demolition began around her, leaving her home sitting atop a skinny stretch of land, encroached on all sides by a pit.
The site is gated, and according to Wu, she has been denied access to her home for the past two years that construction has been underway.
Meanwhile, Wu and her brother spend their days standing outside the gate shouting their outrage to passersby, while her husband somehow managed to sneak into the home and raise a flag bearing the message: "A citizen's legal property is not to be encroached on."
I find the sheer tenacity of this woman and her family to be incredible, especially considering that they act in the face of a government that has only this month passed a law guaranteeing some private property rights.
A city housing official has suggested that Ms. Wu is holding out for an unreasonable sum of money, but I find it hard to believe that she would risk life and limb when stories of beatings and disappearances for such acts of defiance are common.
Instead, I choose to believe that Ms. Wu's motives are noble, that she is refusing to succumb to development because she values individuality over imminent domain.
Just as I was lamenting the lack of Wu-style warrior spirit in the United States (it doesn't seem like many people are chaining themselves to redwoods lately), I read that Wal-Mart has been unceremoniously rebuffed from the city of Manhattan.
The effort to expel the corporation's interests was led by labor unions and local communities.
Certainly there's an element of snobbery present in some protests to Wal-Mart's proposed presence in Manhattan, for the city has long been delighted by its own chic reputation and Wal-Mart's cheap goods are at odds with that image.
But on the other hand, there are the legitimate concerns of the unions for Wal-Mart's notoriously unfriendly labor practices.
The unions are certainly powerful in New York, doubly so when they partner with more liberal members of city councils to keep Wal-Mart out of town, but when I stack them up against the largest retailer in the world, the unions come out as the underdog, and I'm happy to root for them.
And if this week weren't full enough of successful rebellions (tiny though they may be), Burger King announced that it will finally succumb to the constant bullying of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and begin purchasing animal-friendly foods.
The fast-food chain, which PETA had dubbed "Murder King," will start incorporating cage-free eggs, pork from farms that allow pigs room to move, and chickens knocked out with gas instead of electric shocks.
Their veggie burger still tastes like cardboard, but this is a step in the right direction for Burger King.
There's no reason that animals can't be raised in kind conditions before they're slaughtered, and I'm proud of the crazies at PETA for finally getting through to Burger King on this issue.
The world most definitely has its troubles.
There are only so many stories about government lies that I can read before I start feeling cynical, this week's bombshell regarding the cover-up of the circumstances of Pat Tillman's death being one example.
But when those stories are countered by news of good deeds happening in New York, in your local BK Lounge and in China, and they're performed by people as amazing as Wu, I start to feel a little better about being able to make a difference.
Reach the reporter at: hanna.ricketson@asu.edu.
