THERE was a genuinely lovely news story this week about a man from Co Down sacrificing his personal best at the Boston Marathon to help a fellow runner who had collapsed to cross the finish line.

A clip of the moment quickly went viral and was picked up by publications around the world, including this one.

For me, watching it was heartening and, in a small way, restored my faith in people. But it also wasn’t particularly surprising that the man in question, Aaron Beggs, was from Bangor.

We tend to get bogged down in the negatives of living in the north, and there are plenty. But on a global stage, we are generally looked upon quite fondly, often in ways that feel slightly at odds with how we see ourselves.

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It’s something most of us will have experienced at some point. You’re chatting to someone on holiday, they ask where you’re from and the second you say Belfast, Ireland or Northern Ireland, you’re met with some version of, “Oh, I love Ireland.”

More often than not, that reaction comes with a story, a memory or a quick comment about how friendly people here are, even if their experience of the place is limited.

It happened to me in London this week at a press event where I met comedian Tom Allen. I introduced myself and he immediately picked up on the accent. He told me how much he enjoys performing here and how friendly and welcoming audiences are.

And that tends to be the general consensus.

It’s an interesting shift when you consider that less than 30 years ago, this was a place many people actively avoided. Actors and comedians who toured at the time have spoken about how few were willing to travel here because of the conflict.

Now, we’re welcoming visitors from across the world, as seen earlier this week when cruise liner Majestic Princess brought around 5,000 visitors to our shores on its inaugural visit to Belfast.

And I believe part of that comes down to the impression we leave when we’re abroad.

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Beggs is not the first person from here to be recognised on a global stage for that kind of behaviour. During the Euros in 2016, Northern Ireland football fans were praised in Paris for their “exemplary sportsmanship”.

There does seem to be a tendency here to look out for one another, to act with a certain level of care and empathy, even in situations where it might be easier not to.

You could argue that comes from our past, that a place shaped by conflict produces people who are more aware of others. There may be something in that.

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But Beggs didn’t stop to make a point about any of it. He stopped because it felt like the right thing to do. And maybe that’s the point.

While there is still plenty wrong with Northern Ireland, it is also a place full of decent people.

Speaking after the marathon, Beggs described helping the runner as “natural instinct”. It would be nice to think that instinct exists in more of us than not.

© The Irish News