Something amazing recently took place on the Internet.  It won’t bring us world peace, or end famine, but it could help restore our faith in mankind just a little bit.

The story begins with an unlucky tourist.  Anyone who lives to travel knows how important taking pictures are.  You want to capture all the sights from places that you’ve always dreamed of visiting, creating a special collection of wonderful memories.  So imagine how it would feel to travel in Europe, take over 2,800 pictures and then lose your camera.  That moment of realizing all the photos are gone would feel like being sucker-punched.

That’s exactly what happened to one unlucky traveler who visited Amsterdam, but this story has a happy ending.  You see, the camera was found by a good hearted soul who realized the camera held a clue as to its owner, but how to find him?

After looking at some of the photos, it became apparent the camera’s owner liked to have his picture taken (a valuable lesson for those who hate having their picture taken).  Still, there are millions of visitors to Amsterdam so what can one person do?

Jan van Cappellen, who found the camera on a train, said he felt like a detective.  After realizing he had a picture of the owner, van Cappellen emailed several hostels, and other tourist sites including the Iamsterdam page on Facebook.  The photo was posted on Monday and by Tuesday, the owner, Reggie Downing from Canada, was recognized and found still traveling in Europe.

Now, in the grand scheme of things, it might not seem like much, but it’s those little victories that make it feel like we still have a chance.