Being on a plane can be a nuisance on its own, but when there is an unruly passenger, it goes from an annoyance to a potential danger. On a Jet2 flight, a passenger was so belligerently drunk and rude to the staff that the plane was going to be diverted. Then hope arrived in the form of an eight-year-old soccer fan.

Phoenix Rose and his father were cutting their vacation in Turkey short. They had to catch a flight home to Manchester due to a family emergency. During the flight, a passenger had too much to drink before boarding. She even had her open bottle of whiskey confiscated. This caused the irate passenger to disrupt the flight, shouting and swearing at the flight attendants. The passenger became so unruly that the flight attendants made an announcement: The flight would be diverted to remove her from the plane.

And a child would lead them

Phoenix was desperate to get home to deal with his family emergency. He didn’t want the flight to be diverted and cause a delay. On a whim, he asked a flight attendant if he could sit next to the angry passenger. He asked for only 30 seconds.

The flight attendants gave Phoenix a chance. They switched his seat to one next to the unruly passenger. And it worked.

“He just took all the control,” James, Phoenix’s father, told BelfastLive. “Phoenix, he got his cards out, he started singing to her this Dance Monkey song.”

“She’s screaming, she’s shouting, she’s still being irate. And he starts singing to her, he starts talking about his football to her, talking about her family, asking her about her kids,” James told BBC News. “I’m sort of sat there in the end and I’m thinking to myself, thank god that Phoenix is with me because if he wasn’t, I don’t think I would have been able to handle it.”

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The young master of de-escalation

Knowingly or instinctively, Phoenix practiced effective de-escalation techniques while talking to the passenger. This included finding common ground, listening to her talk about her family, and using several other strategies.

Phoenix even calmly reminded her of the consequences. He told the passenger that she could be arrested if she couldn’t calm down, but quickly encouraged her to talk about her kids.

For three and a half hours, Phoenix chatted with the passenger. They discussed his love of soccer, his YouTube channel, and their families. Phoenix also showed her his trading cards of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. An eight-year-old accomplished what a plane full of adults struggled to do.

After the plane landed at its destination, the pilot and flight attendants thanked Phoenix for preventing a forced flight diversion. That would have been costly for both the airline and the passengers in terms of time and money. The passenger was taken into custody by authorities.

A spokesperson for Jet2 thanked Phoenix and rewarded him and his dad with free flight vouchers.

A little bit of kindness and the wisdom of a young kid were all it took to ease an intense and volatile situation.

While a bottle of bubbles might seem out of place in a hospital setting, you might be surprised to learn that, for thousands of children around the world born with cleft lip and palate, they can be a helpful tool in comprehensive cleft care. Lilia, who was born with cleft lip and palate in 2020, is one of the many patients who received this care. 

As a toddler, Lilia underwent two surgeries to treat cleft lip and palate with Operation Smile’s surgical program in Puebla, Mexico. Because of Operation Smile’s comprehensive care, it wasn’t long before her personality transformed: Lilia went from a quiet and withdrawn toddler to an exuberant, curious explorer, babbling, expressing herself with a variety of sounds, and engaging with others like any child her age. 

Lilia is now a healthy five-year-old, with the same cheerful attitude and boundless energy. Her progress is the result of care at every level, from surgery to speech therapy to ongoing support at home—but it’s also evidence that small, sustained interventions throughout it all can make a meaningful difference. 

Cleft Conditions: A Global Problem

Since 1982, Operation Smile has provided cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries to more than 500,000 patients worldwide with the help of generous volunteers and donors. Cleft conditions are congenital conditions, meaning they are present at birth. With cleft lip and palate, the lip or the roof of the mouth do not form fully during fetal development. Cleft conditions put children at risk for malnutrition and poor weight gain, since their facial structure can make feeding challenging. But cleft conditions can have an enormous social impact as well: Common difficulties with speech can leave kids socially isolated and unable to meet the same developmental milestones as their peers. 

Surgery is a vital step in treating cleft conditions, but it’s also just one part of a much larger solution. Organizations like Operation Smile emphasize the importance of multi-disciplinary teams that provide comprehensive, long-term care to patients across many years. This approach, which includes oral care, speech therapy, nutritional support, and psychosocial care, not only aids in physical recovery from surgery but also helps children develop the skills and confidence to eat easily, speak clearly, and engage in everyday life. This ensures that each patient receives the full range of support they need to thrive. 

A Playful (and Powerful) Solution

Throughout a patient’s care, simple tools like bubbles can play a meaningful role from start to finish. 

Immediately before surgery, children are often in a new and unfamiliar environment far from home, some of them experiencing a hospital setting for the first time. When care providers or loved ones blow bubbles, it’s a simple yet effective technique: Not only are the children soothed and distracted, the bubbles also help create a sense of joy and playfulness that eases their anxiety. 

In speech therapy, bubbles can take on an even more important role. Blowing bubbles requires controlled airflow, as well as the ability to form a rounded “O” shape with the lips, which are skills that children with cleft conditions may struggle to develop. Practicing these skills with bubbles allows children to gently strengthen their facial muscles, improve breath control, and support the motor skills needed for speech development. Beyond that, blowing bubbles can help kids connect with their parents or providers in a way that’s playful, comforting, and accessible even for very young patients. 

Finally, bubbles often follow patients with cleft conditions home in the “smile bags” that each patient receives when the surgical procedure is finished. Smile bags, which help continue speech therapy outside of the hospital setting, can contain language enrichment booklets, a mirror, oxygen tubing, and bubbles. While regular practice with motor skills can help with physical recovery, small acts of play help as well, giving kids space to simply enjoy themselves and join in on what peers are able to do.

Bubbles at Home and Beyond

Today, because of Operation Smile’s dedication to comprehensive cleft care, Lilia is now able to make friends and speak clearly, all things that could have been difficult or impossible before. Instead of a childhood defined by limitation, Lilia—and others around the world—can look forward to a childhood filled with joy, learning, discovery, friends, and new possibilities.  

CTA: Lilia’s life was changed for the better with the care she received through Operation Smile. Find out how you can make an impact in other children’s lives by visiting operationsmile.org today. 

British singer-songwriter Dylan Holloway, who performs as Dylan and the Moon, has been wowing audiences with his voice for quite some time. But what makes Holloway especially unique is that he also charmed crowds before identifying as male. While Holloway had long wrestled with his gender identity, he transitioned from female to male during the COVID-19 pandemic. While some might say they never look back, Holloway chooses to look back with love and gratitude for his former self.

In a recent clip posted to Holloway’s Instagram page, he shows his followers a split screen. On the left is Dylan presenting as female, with blonde curls and soprano notes. That side is labeled “2018.” On the right is modern-day Dylan, now presenting as male, shirtless and tattooed, marked “2026.” To the song “Kiss Me,” he harmonizes with his former self, and it’s absolutely pitch-perfect.

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“A duet with my past self”

At the top of the clip, he writes, “Singing with my past self…trans duet.” Holloway adds in the comments:

“A duet with my past self. I make these videos because it brings me joy to embrace my entire journey & it helps me spread love to others who may wish to do the same… I’m proud of who I am & the unique art I can make because of it … whoever you are, whatever your journey, you are wonderful & deserve love for your whole self too.”

Fans in the comment section were equally loving and seemingly in awe:

“You were and are a beautiful person, with a lot of charisma, musically and a beautiful voice. In both interpretations. Gifted! I’m impressed.”

“I see a talented musician who is proud of his story and who loves himself, as he should.”

Sixpence None the Richer

As for the song? The year was 1998. The band Sixpence None the Richer had taken American radio stations by storm with their sweet, melodic single “Kiss Me” from their self-titled album, released a year earlier. Its lyrics are pretty straightforward, though some could call them a tad bossy. The singer would like a gentleman to kiss her “behind the bearded barley. Nightly, behind the green, green grass. Swing, swing. Swing the spinning step. You’ll wear those shoes and I will wear that dress.” Holloway nails every note.

@dylanandthemoon The X Factor (lol) 11 years & 1 transition later 🏳️‍⚧️ 😂 #xfactor #transition #transgender #transman before and after ♬ original sound – DylanAndTheMoon

The X Factor (lol) 11 years & 1 transition later 🏳️‍⚧️ 😂 #xfactor #transition #transgender #transman before and after

Back in 2012, Holloway became a sensation while competing on Britain’s The X Factor, where he ended up as a finalist in a band called MK1. More recently, he compiled clips from the show featuring his former self singing beautifully then and just as purely now as a man.

In an interview with DIVA Magazine, Holloway described his time on the show:

“MK1 ended up at the finals on national television, which was such a turning point in my life. Until then I had just been a little androgynous kid from Newquay with a secret inside me, and now I was a rapper in an urban band on telly. But everyone knew........

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