The Uplift: Dermot Mulroney 

--mad about the blowing and the scooping. It's just noise and leaf blowers, and I can't handle it.

Even just vacationing to look at them angers some peeps. I hope you stub your toe really hard.

But there is at least one place left in America where pure autumn joy can still be found. It appears annually in Jody Hartman's front yard in Freeport, Maine, after he piles up his leaves and gives his dog-- [DOG BARKS] --the green light. Stella, the yellow lab, mindfulness personified. She kind of likes the feeling of it, I think. The sound, maybe. I made you something. It's just her little comfort zone.

Stella started doing this about nine years ago. A few years later, their other dog, Mabel, caught the fever. Today, their videos are extremely popular on social media, which is why Jody goes to great lengths to make sure his leaf pile lasts as long as possible.

I was out in the yard with a hair dryer, trying to dry them out. I have to cover them with my new roof. Just leaf maintenance all the time. Do you have to tell the kids, no, these aren't for you, these are for the dog? I have kept the kids out of the leaf pile before. Hold on, guys. Don't wreck it.

You know, some people believe kids are more important than dogs. Yeah. That's good to know. I'll try to remember that. [LAUGHTER]

But until then, the pooches will remain the priority. Because he says we all really need this.

I think in a world where there's so much noise, and especially on social media, it just doesn't get much more simple and wholesome than a dog just running and jumping in the leaves.

Especially, he says, when this happens.

Just their tail wagging outside the leaves, there's something about it.

That little periscope of hope popping out of the chaos, a reminder that joy is still out there if you just take the leap. Joining us now, Jody Hartman, no relation. Welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having me. It's great to be back with you. Why do you think dogs in general are so good at living in the moment? I think they're simplistic creatures. And we're meant to be more simplistic than we are. They don't ruminate on thoughts. They don't worry. They don't have social media. Yeah, right. right. For old people, like my dad, who spend too much time harping on their kids, do you have any suggestions for how to make life more mindful? Have you tried Buddhism? [LAUGHTER]

Emmett's being mindful right now. You're interrupting my zen. Hey, take your time. I'm all about it. How do your dogs practice mindfulness in other seasons? They're happy with a mud puddle. They're happy with a dead tree to chew on, a tennis ball to destroy. So there's always something to keep them entertained and mindful. There's a lot that can be learned from your dogs and from you. Thanks for joining us. Yeah, of course. Thank you guys. You know, we all do a lot of worrying about the past and the future, but this moment, this one right here, offers us an opportunity to just be, something to be mindful of. Until we see you next time. And until then, stay kind. Coming up, meet a group of women who are diving into the water in Cape Cod, cleaning up and making connections. We take you now to Ridgefield, Connecticut, home of the Prospector Theater. It may look like a normal movie theater, from the outside anyway, but it's the people inside who make it unique. Bring it in.

It's the employees at the Ridgefield, Connecticut, Prospector movie theater who make it unique. Thank you so much.

About 75% of them live with a disability. There's so many places, especially in the job market, that you can't help but feel judged for having a disability or being neurodivergent. But here I feel like I'm accepted as I am. So that'll be $12.

Ben Ehrman has a degree in paleontology. And here today, I'm going to give you a preview to the upcoming movie Jurassic WorldRebirth.

The theater pairs its employees with jobs that highlight their strengths, a practice they call Sparkle. Stephanie Schultz says she has been living with a disability since a car accident 18 years ago caused a severe brain injury. The fact of feeling useful and able and appreciated and-- sorry. It's a really special place. It's been such a bright spot. Of course, having a job feels more productive, feels like a more positive life direction. How has working here impacted your life? I actually had some issues and doubts about myself, but after working with everyone here, I feel like I can finally believe in myself again.

Nikki Battiste, CBS News, Ridgefield, Connecticut. Let us journey now to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, one of my favorite places. We're going to meet there a gang of self-proclaimed old ladies who say they have an interesting relationship with garbage. Here's Mark Strassmann with their story. This area right here in and around the dock.

Welcome to the shore of a different world, the zen of garbage. We met a group called OLAUG, Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage. They're all at least 65, passed a swim test, enjoyed diving outside their comfort zone-- in the ponds that dot Cape Cod. You have no idea what you're going to see, and you have no idea what you're going to feel.

Susan Baur, now 85, formed the group seven years ago. They have a waiting list of 50 women. You have an interesting relationship with garbage. We do. And if you don't, when you join, you do it within about an hour.

13 women in wetsuits, six kayaks to haul back whatever they find. Since 2018, that's three tons of trash. Literally, we found a kitchen sink, or it's a blue toilet. Every dive is an adventure, and people are hungry for that.

But the other treasure hunt is for what they feel. You are in a kind of zen state, at one with the water. And whatever you were thinking about on the drive over or worrying about on the drive over-- That's all gone.

Gone? Gone.

We met Maggie McGaw and Alison Lesson. It's the greatest cocktail ever. It's a cocktail of friendship, of laughter, of joy, of magic, of purpose. Gotta say, garbage is not an ingredient in most cocktails. [LAUGHTER] People just don't know what they're missing. Woo-hoo!

Until they find it. Psychologists call that feeling the flow and say we could all use it. Flow is a mental state.

Caroline Stanley teaches psychology at Bridgewater State. Part of the flow experience is feeling that you're connected to something much larger to yourself, and that brings on this sense of meaning and purpose in your life. We don't know what some of the stuff is that-- Yeah, that.

Canoe paddles, lots of golf balls, a rudder and tiller, all part of the hull from the 22nd pond they've cleaned this year.

We are in the zone. And to be in the zone in a foreign world, in a new land, is pretty damn wonderful. Here you go. It's heavy.

And in those ponds, they keep proving every ebb has its flow. Good job. Good job.

For Eye on America, I'm Mark Strassmann, in Sandwich, Massachusetts. Coming up, Stick Nation. What the heck is that? If you've never heard of the group, we've got an explanation from one of its proudest members, Dermot Mulroney. There is a growing trend online meant to help people recapture their childhood. One of the followers of this trend may be a familiar face to you, Dermot Mulroney. Vlad met up with the actor in Central Park recently to learn about what it means to be a part of Stick Nation. Well, roots don't count. They're not sticks yet.

Two grown men on a child-like hunt-- Let's see what we got.

--through Central Park, all for the sake of sticks. Whoa! I didn't even see this. It's like wizard staff. But look what you got. You have either a gun or a pelican.

What one person might see as woody debris, people like screen star Dermot Mulroney imagine something entirely different. Really is ergonomically good for jabbing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can see that. Mulroney has played many parts on TV and in film, but his role offscreen as a lifelong stick enthusiast-- We're like in stick Tokyo.

--might be the least expected. Living my imagination helps me act and become part of storytelling. But any kid, anywhere in the world, anyone, any age, picks up a stick, and instantly it creates all these stories in your mind. Hey, what's up, Stick Nation?

Mulroney's hobby came to light when his video review of a stick he'd found-- It's got magical eyeball in there.

--appeared on Official Stick Reviews-- Antler and the tusk.

--an online community of more than 4 million stick fans all over the world. I messaged Stick Nation to say, guys are cool, and they said, so are you. Thanks for the follow. That was it. And then I found an epic stick on a par-3 golf course in Los Feliz in Los Angeles. It went what you call viral. I submit to you my stick.

Longtime friends and Utah natives Logan Jugler and Boone Hogg are the duo behind the account. We were just up on a hike, and we came across some sticks down in Moab, Utah. And then we kind of just started building off of that. Yeah, it was a real natural thing built out of friendship and then just kind of the joy and wonder of when you're a kid and you find a cool stick, so-- Is that when you first filmed it for the rest of the world, or-- Yeah. And that was a goof, right? [MUSIC PLAYING]

Nice slight bend.

I just pulled out my phone, and we filmed a quick review. Because we were just like, this is so funny. We have a solid 5 out of 10. Thanks for sticking around. And then I made the page that same night. Hello, Sick Nation. Necklace. Trident. Look at it. Sit on it. Watch this? This is my stick with my chick.

Now, two years later, they've received tens of thousands of stick review videos from 120 countries and every continent-- We've got a really good find here in Uganda.

--and from celebrities like Lin-Manuel Miranda-- And we found this sticking out of the ground.

--Olivia Wilde. Pretty tip-top shape for a walking stick.

--and Rainn Wilson. It tastes sticky. All right, guys, this is Noah Kahan, stick lover--

Noah Kahan even announced the winner of their Stick of the Year competition. They see the sticks. He sees the stick. Yep, dogs are fans, too. See, that's the other thing. Dogs are a big part of Stick Nation. Are they? They know sticks better than we do, that's for sure. We should have them rate a stick, honestly. People just from any corner of the world find joy in simple things. Anyone can see whatever they want in it. It could be lightsaber. It could be a sword. It could be a scepter. But really what you're finding is just imagination and joy.

The many finds of Stick Nation are now the focus of a new book, appropriately called Sticks. And we actually have a section that's called the Sticktionary.

OK. So this breaks down your rating system. So there's classifications-- animal sticks, artillery sticks. Our community is actually really wholesome. There's not a lot of controversy that can happen, because at the end of the day, they are talking about sticks.

So what does make for a good stick?

At the end of the day, if the stick speaks to you, then we consider it a solid stick. We actually brought you some sticks from Utah, Vlad. OK, wow. I like that it doesn't have bark, so we call that a nude. It's all natty. It has some really cool nodules here. So overall, this stick-- I'm going to go ahead and give it on the Stickter scale-- about an-- probably a 7.8. Nice. Yeah. It's a really beautiful piece. Do you think you can see it well enough? Oh, yeah. Back on my stick quest with Dermot--

Hey what's up, Stick Nation? What's up, Sick Nation? It's Dermot and Vlad.

--the only thing left to do was to record our very own stick review. We decided it's the barbarian staff of the Wizard of Central Park. Stick Nation is for real, and it's inclusive. And it's global. And it shows, if nothing else, giving something simple that we all agree on, that sticks are cool. It's bigger than it seems. Stick you later, Stick Nation. See you later, Stick Nation. Coming up, David Begnaud introduces us to two friends who met in an unlikely place, when one was the perpetrator of a crime and the other was the victim of said crime. How the hell do they turn it into a relationship? They say they're best friends. David Begnaud has the answer. David Begnaud now introduces us to two very unlikely best friends-- one sentenced to 95 years in prison, the other a victim of his crime. Here's David.

You'd never imagine how these two friends met. He's my biggest supporter. I'm his biggest supporter. He tells people I'm his best friend. Don Allison and Marcus Cheffen met on opposite ends of a gun in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, back in 1996. All of a sudden, the guy jumps up, and he's got a gun in my face like this in a split second. I ran up on him. It's kind of difficult to talk about it. here you go. Take the car. Just don't pull that trigger, man. And so-- Told him to give me everything he had. And I hear a click. And the bullet clipped my shirt. I shot at him. You missed. I missed. The bullet misses. He goes to my car. I'm thinking, wow, this is incredible. I'm alive, and he's going to drive off. I got his car keys and went to his car, and I come back. And I'm doing my best to try to talk him out of it, and he pulls the trigger. I heard him say, you got me.

That bullet barreled through his right leg and lodged in the left, barely missing the main artery. If it nicks that artery, you bleed to death in four or five minutes.

Instead, Allison was back home in just two days. I could have took this man's life. Yes. So it still haunt me. Before that night, had you robbed somebody before? Never. Had you shot somebody before? Never.

The cops quickly caught him, and Allison testified against him at trial. This guy tried to kill me, and I thought he should never, ever see the outside of a prison barbed wire for the rest of his life. Your trial lasted one day. One day. I think it lasted two hours. So the jury goes out, and in 20 minutes, they're back. We have a verdict, Your Honor. Guilty, guilty, and guilty. You were sentenced to 95 years. Yeah. Did you think you'd ever get out? No. I just said this was going to be my life.

Life at the Louisiana State Penitentiary known as Angola. I made my mind up. When I got to Angola, I was going to do the right thing. [BUZZING]

He learned a trade, became a barber, and began to cut a new path. Sorry and accountability is two different things. That's right. What's the difference? You can say "I'm sorry" but not taking accountability for what you did. Thank you for--

So Cheffen began writing his wrongs by writing these letters. How many times did you write to Mr. Allison while in prison? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, maybe 6. What were you trying to tell him in those letters? How sorry I was. Look, he wrote letters to me. I was not concerned that he was-- Did those letters move your heart? Not a lot. I was still the bulldog that wanted him to stay in for the rest of his life.

But the very day in 2016 that Allison asked the parole board to keep Cheffen behind bars-- My wife asked me the question, Don, do you think you did the right thing this morning? And I thought, oh, man, I am busted now.

And that is when he found the Louisiana Department of Corrections Victim-Offender Dialogue program, which allowed Allison to meet face-to-face with the man who almost murdered him. Did he admit to you that he did it? Oh, absolutely. He said it right away. We talked for eight hours. I cried, and we talked. What'd you tell him? I just told him I'm sorry.

But it was something else Cheffen says that really moved Allison. He said that one of his jobs in prison, he learned to be a hospice worker. He looked me in the eye. He said, Mr. Allison, I changed men's diapers. It is a humbling experience. What did that say to you? That told me that he does have a compassionate heart. Did you expect him to forgive you? No. Never in my wildest dream.

But you see, at the time, Allison was undergoing a transformation of his own. He had gotten a calling to become a deacon in the Catholic Church. And it made me more willing to forgive him. So is Marcus out if Don doesn't start the process to be a deacon? Maybe not.

At Cheffen's next parole hearing in 2020, Don Allison offered these words that changed both of their lives.

I have forgiven Marcus. I'm very confident in telling you that Mr. Cheffen is a different man. He clearly deserves a second chance. Why did you give Marcus that second chance? All things pointed to the fact of, he has turned his life around. He deserves a second chance. I had to do the right thing.

And by doing the right thing, Don Allison insists it was more than just an attempted murderer who got a second chance. Because it was God's plan. It has turned me around. It has turned Marcus around. We've gone from "this is my worst nightmare" to "this guy's a good friend of mine." Don Allison goes from being your victim-- still hurts when you hear it, right? Your victim--e Yeah, it does. --to your advocate and now-- My best friend. Y'all need anything else for right now? No, we're good. We're good. OK.

Friends who now regularly meet up for lunch and volunteer with the Louisiana Parole Project-- What self-care could you use right now?

--which provides legal aid classes and housing to help formerly incarcerated people like Cheffen. Together, they've even gone back to Angola, where Marcus served 13 of his 24 years, to reach out to the men still behind those bars. If I can help just one person to get out-- [APPLAUSE]

And this time they returned with Allison, not as victim and shooter-- How you doing, my best friend? Doing great, man.

--but as brothers in purpose. I can survive physically. You can survive 24 years in prison. Right. Both become different people. Our paths crossed back again. And here we are together, working together to help other people. What do you think? Some things are better shown than said. That is our show. I hope it brightens your day. Hope it lifted you up. And for some reason it didn't, go ahead and press Play again. The rerun's still completely free. I'm going to go find some good news. Is it there? Is it over there? See you next time.