
We like to think we have more control over the world than we really do.
Not to venture into dime-store super-villain territory, but so much of the world is chance, or luck, or a random simulation of numbers assembling in front of us in a Matrix-like scenario. Life is chaos.
We can't predict everything that will ever happen to us, nor should we, because how could you ever predict anything like the following stories?
Reddit user, Financial_Lime_252, wanted to know what could never be fully understood when they asked:
"What’s the most unexplainable thing that’s happened to you?"
Turns out the world is not as big as you think, if these random chance encounters are anything to go off of.
What Are The Chances Of Finding You Here?
"I was visiting the united states, tens of thousands of miles from home, walking along the beach and heard someone call out from the terrace of this cafe. It was my former boss from back in my own country. My mind can't even begin to calculate the unlikeliness of that."
paconadamas
...Not That High, Apparently
"I was walking down a busy street in Dublin on my way to work and I bumped into a guy who was the bouncer at a club I used to go to before I left to go overseas. We both stopped, looked at each other and said "what the f-ck are you doing here?" at the same time. That was over 20 years ago. I'm back in my home country now and not long after I moved into my new place I bumped into him. He lives a couple of streets away from my place."
reverendgrebo
Maybe the inexplicable thing that happened to you isn't so much bizarre and otherworldly, but a just a crazy random happenstance that would take eons to do the mathematics on.
Baby Trash Panda Stories Are Always Cute
"Was in a Krogers parking lot trying to figure out a car issue. Dude who had something tucked under his arm came up, and asked me if I needed help -- I knew what I was dealing with, but said yes, because I'm a computer guy, not a car guy, and you don't know what you don't know, so to speak."
"He proceeded to take the tool I was using to mess with the battery terminal, and handed off the thing that was under his arm, which happened to be a raccoon pup, saying, "Don't worry, he don't bite." I'm completely stunned, holding and petting a completely calm raccoon while this guy sorts out my car. He takes it back, and goes about his day."
"One of many random and unexplainable encounters in my life, but probably my favorite."
Crimsonial
The Connection Is Made
"When I was really really small, like 4 or 5 years old, a woman my mom worked with at the insulation plant, gave my mom one of those 90's fisher price dollhouses because her daughter outgrew it. I even remember the night my mom brought it home, she was so excited that she woke me up at midnight to give it to me (she worked a late second shift). An insulation factory wasn't really a safe place for a really small child, so I had never met the lady. I only knew her name was Rosella, because I thought it was such a beautiful name."
"I had never seen photos or anything to identify her. Fast forward about a month after mom brought home the doll house, I was walking into the general store with my mom. I have no idea what compelled me, but I ran up to a lady checking out in line and yelled out "Rosella!!" Turned out, it was her. My mom just stood stunned, and Rosella had assumed that mom pointed her out to me. Except I had yelled out her name before my mom had even seen her."
todaysmomsawyer
Your Spider-Sense Tingled
"My husband was driving and I was a passenger in the front seat. I dont know what made me do this but I quickly grabbed his arm and I shouted “slow down!”which he did. Then a few seconds later a car on our left side sped past us really fast, then careened into our lane and crashed into the car in front of us. The person speeding died and the person in the car in front of us died. Had I not had told my husband to slow down we would’ve died because we would’ve been hit."
"It’s inexplicable what made me do that but I’d like to believe I have a good angel watching out for me."
CA_catwhispurr
We like to think there's random luck in the world, where fate and chance meet at the crossroads of life, giving us wondrous experiences to tell later on.
However, not all of these events are actually random, no matter how much we wish they were.
Do Dogs Climb Trees?
"like 15 years ago while still lived with my mom we had a big backyard and had two dogs, one night i heard the dogs running back and forth not barking but they were whimpering, like scared or something, and when I went out to see I saw another white dog, like a BIG white husky dog, and it looked at me with piercing red eyes, then turned around, climbed a fucking tree and jumped to the backyard next door."
"To this day I know for sure I wasn't high, and still don't know what that was."
orbit103
Well, That's A Little Easier To Comprehend...
"I have very bad luck, but I think the most significant was when a cop thought I was someone they were chasing (on an open street) and I got tazered in the back and was hit with a baton several times in the face and ribs. The cop realized I wasn't the person and just ran off without saying anything."
"I called the police and they claimed they have no record of it, and I got a lawyer and tried to pursue action against the police department but it all just fell flat and everyone acted like it didn't happen, even most of my family."
"So I got the pleasure of having partial blindness in my right eye (left eye dominant so thank goodness) and suffer from a broken nose and two broken ribs along with being tazed and humiliated in public for no reason. Things are good, I tell ya what."
ConnieSparks
People Explain Which Conspiracy Theories They Believe Are 100% True | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
It's often the bizarre, almost trivial conspiracy theories that take root in people's minds and a Reddit thread dedicated to plumbing the depths of these bel...Not Even Security Footage Can Explain This
"My wife had the week off work, so she offered to drive me to work. I asked her to check if she had her keys, phone, and wallet before we left. She noticed her wallet wasn't in her pocket and asked me to help look for it. I sort-of recalled her putting it on the mostly cleared kitchen island the previous evening. It wasn't there. We moved the few things off of it, but still couldn't find it. Both of us thought that she might've dropped it while she was out shopping the previous day, and to call around to the stores when they opened."
"So we went about our day and she drove me to work. She was quite disappointed to have to spend one of her days off calling the bank to cancel all of her cards, going to ICBC (auto insurance provider) to get a replacement drivers license, and going to her work to get a new key card. She stopped by the two stores she visited the previous day but both had no such wallet in their lost & found. She decided to head back home so she could grab her passport/other ID incase she was asked for it."
"She walked into our condo and saw the wallet, sitting alone on the kitchen island, in the exact spot that I remembered it was. We have security cameras but the footage during that hour corrupted and wasn't viewable."
"Neither of us can explain what the fuck happened. No one has spare keys except my MIL, whom was out of the country. No friends stayed over. The only "logical" explanation is that one of our cats took it off of the kitchen island, hid it, and then brought it back while we were out."
"We definitely had some odd situations happen in that condo."
fishymoo
You Found Your Doppelganger
"When I was 5y/o my mom opened the door to two cops who where telling her that her daughter, (me) was outside alone in spring with only a t-shirt and shorts at 1AM ish."
"At the time I was sleeping with her every nights. So she told the cops it cannot be true I’m in her bed right now. She comes to get me and we go in the entry. The two cops said that the little girl knew where she’s living and that’s her who said she was living at my house. The two cops then look at me creep out and ask my name. I have a very unique name by the way."
"Then the cops took the little girl to show my mother that it wasn’t a joke of some sort. The little girl entered and ran to my mom yelling “mommy mommy it’s me lili”. My name is Livia I don’t know how the f
"We often tell this story with my mother to family reunions. I wish I was kidding, she had similar physical traits too, not identical but similar."
"She knew my name and made a nickname with it to this day. I do believe she heard the cops asking me questions. Then I started to cry and eventually the cops left with the little girl."
According-Car-296
Helping Someone Pass Beyond
"My best friend passed away this past March. On the morning that she passed, right around the time that the coroner said she must have died, I woke up from a dream where she had been dying. In the dream, she thanked me for everything I had done for her. A few hours after I woke up, I sent her a text just wanting to check in. It was right after I sent that text that I got a phone call from her mother who told me she had passed that morning."
"I’ll never understand why I had that dream, but I like to think that on her way out she visited me one last time."
Itsnotaduck
Things. Hurt.
"I still have a print of the photo."
"Around 1996, I borrowed a new digital camera from my work and brought it to band practice at our bassist's house, who was also studying computer programming at the time. I took a bunch of "band pics" and excited about the new technology, we loaded the photos onto his computer to get a good laugh at our drunken foolishness."
"In one particular shot of the bassist, we were stunned to see something bizarre. The TV screen behind him in the photo was black, except for white, cloudy "ghost writing" that said "things hurt." We had NO explanation for this. My friend printed the photo on his black and white printer, and I still have a copy to this day."
Tomegunn1
The world is a big place, and a lot can happen to you in that time. Think critically. You'll find the world makes a lot more sens if you do so.
Keep an eye out for baby raccoons.
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It's highly believed that it is important to learn history as a means to improve our future.
What is often overlooked is that what is taught in history class is going to be very different depending on where you went to school.
And this isn't just internationally, even different regions of the United states will likely have very different lessons on American history.
This frequently results in our learning fascinating, heartbreaking and horrifying historical facts which our middle or high school history teachers neglected to teach us.
Redditor Acherontia_atropos91 was curious to learn things people either wished they had learned, or believe they should have learned, in their school history class, leading them to ask:
What isn’t taught in history class but should be?
The Irish Troubles
"The troubles."
"Too many people in America do not understand why a wall straight through Ireland would be a BAD idea."
"I’m referring to the Brexit referendum and possible outcomes."
"If people were wondering why we were talking about walls through Ireland in the first place."- CLCVS.
Forgotten elements of World War II
"What the Japanese did to the Chinese during WW2."
"Unit 731."- CaptainMcBoogerJew.
"Japan gets off easy for their war crimes in WW2."
"They killed an estimated 16mil Chinese civilians and another 8mil soldiers"
"Also, Pol Pot."
"Didn't know who he was until I was like 25."
"Worst dictator all time (in terms of percentage of population he decimated)".
The truth about the American Revolution
"That the American Revolution was part of a wider cold war type of conflict with France."
"The American Revolution was basically the UK's equivalent of the US version of Vietnam."- vinsant7.
The Dark side of Swedish history.
"As a Swede, I'd like to know more of all the horrible sh*t my country has done throughout history."
"It's a damn shame we're trying to hide our history."
"For example, Swedes killed a metric sh*t ton of all Polish people when we were at our strongest."
"That's the kinda sh*t we don't get to learn."- mogwandayy.
Colonization
"Basically what Belgium did to the Congo."
"A lot of people are telling me that they are taught about this actually."
"I'm glad to hear it because I wasn't taught about this in the USA during my public school days (1995-2008)."- EconArch.
The truth about "heroes".
"While teaching about historical Heroes they should also tell students about the unspeakable things some of them did."
"Many famous figures throughout history who are pillars of morality actually did many terrible things." - User Deleted
Intolerance for Mental Illness
"The dark history of mental illness treatments."
"I think it's worth learning about."- 7dayexcerpt.
Slavic Mythology
"Slavic mythology in Slavic countries."
"Don't get me wrong, I love both Greek & Roman mythology and as a person from the Balkans both of those cultures are part of my country's history and had great influence over not only my region but the entirety of the continent & the western world but I wouldn't mind knowing more about Slavic mythology as well."- ShorsShezzarine.
The truth about the CIA
"How the CIA was made and all the shady things they did over the years."- ALargeChip.
There is a lot about the history of our world, not to mention our own country which shouldn't be ignored.
And it's from learning from our mistakes that we really improve our future.
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So apparently we are in the endemic phase of this nonsense.
We have light at the end of the tunnel.
So what now?
Where do we go from here?
Normal seems like an outdated word.
How do we get back to normal though?
Is it even possible?
What are reaching back to?
Life pre-Covid.
Those were the days.
If only we could bring them back.
Redditor hetravelingsong wanted to discuss our new normal in this hopeful "endemic" phase. So they asked:
"What’s something random you miss about pre-COVID times?"
I miss people being sane. Though that maybe election cycle issues not COVID. We'll never know.
I thought I was Alone...
"Being able to grocery shop after 11 pm."
Reading_Rainboner
"Hell yes. I miss the days where the Walmart across the street was open 24 hours."
Small_Tax_9432
let's just go...
"I miss spontaneity... everything now seems to have a barrier of difficulty."
iidosee
"I live very close to Disneyland so I have an annual pass. My friends and I would just go there after work and hang out and grab a bite to eat."
"Now, we have to reserve a day to go. And most of the time, the days are at 'full' capacity so we couldn't even reserve. I don't want to schedule to hang out at Disneyland for a couple hours for July. So yeah, I definitely miss the 'lets go eat at Disneyland tonight?' texts."
mymymissmai
Not til 24-25
"Functioning global supply chains. Ah, the product you want has got microchips in it? 9 month wait."
richard-king
"Minimum, I'd been saying for a while now that I wouldn't expect a true return to normalcy in terms of electronics prices till 2024-2025. Although Crypto crashing through the floor really took some of the pressure off graphics cards which I really appreciate."
statiiic
WTF?!?!
"How affordable everything was!"
Disastrous_Hour_6776
"Yep. Today I was bagging up my things at the grocery store and I heard the cashier say to the lady behind me 'thats $78.12.' She had -- 2 boxes of Kellogg's corn flakes, a carton of 12 eggs, milk, strawberries, raspberries, blue berries, a small cheese cake, English muffins, coffee, and a small whole frozen chicken that could maybe feed 3 people if the meat portioning was small."
SnowyInuk
Sushi
"My favorite sushi place. It was good quality, close by, kid-friendly, and not too expensive."
InannasPocket
All of this... it was a simpler time.
NASTY
"As a retail worker, just how f**king NASTY some people have gotten."
DmitriPetrov*itch
"They applauded you for being an essential worker but won’t vote for policies that’ll raise minimum wage while insisting a wage cap for heavily paid employees."
sketchysketchist
CHANGES your DNA...
"Some of the people closest to me became very bitter and petty over the last 2 years. So many people have the 'crazy eyes' now."
__--__7
"So true and holidays with the family is like who has the biggest tinfoil hat building contest. How many jumps does your brain have to go through to think that the Covid vaccine CHANGES your DNA into the patented DNA so that the government now controls your body."
"So like vaccinated people now have a singular DNA set. I feel like I still have a chunk of my brain just broken off due to that comment alone. I was also told by same family member that I could never donate blood again due to the vaccine. I guess it is so my patented DNA doesn't affect people?? FYI my vaccinated butt just donated today fine and multiple other times after the vaccine."
tyreka13
Homeward Bound
"House prices."
adrianinked
"I'm resigned to never thinking I have a chance on owning property where I live. I'm 30 and just can't imagine it anymore. And I don't want to live anywhere else so, whatever."
Osdab2daf
"That didn’t happen because of the pandemic. That was already happening regardless."
CH11DW
Oh Mickey
"All Day Breakfast at McDonalds."
hutch2522
"It was honestly hell to do, and not very popular. ITs margins aren't anywhere dinner and lunch specials. ON top of that, the temperatures are such that They require its own grill, meaning that if you have 2 grills in shop, you are down 50% of lunch capacity."
Freyas_Follower
Way back when...
"Hanging out with friends. And I mean waaaaaay before Covid. Like 2006 back when I had some friends."
LoocsinatasYT
I miss the old days. Maybe we'll get back there.
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What do you believe?
Is there a GOD in the sky?
Is he guiding us and helping us?
Life is really hard. Why is that is a big entity is up there loving us?
Atheists have taken a lot of heat for what feels like shunning GOD.
What if they've been right all along?
Maybe let's take a listen and see what they really think.
Redditor __Jacob______ wanted to hear from the people who don't really believe all that "God" stuff. They asked:
"Atheists, what do you believe in?"
I'm waffling between G-O-D and nothing. So please give me some education.
911
"We need to look out for each other because help isn't coming."
cknipe
Peace Out
"More than 2 decades ago, a priest was giving a sermon in my church and he said 'our faith requires you to believe without question. Why call it faith if you have to ask questions?' I haven't returned to church. Not until my wedding day but you know what I mean."
asiangontear
Delusion
"When I was young I used to think that after death you would have access to a PC that you could see absolutely anything about your life. Stats, any question you had no matter how obscure, replays of moments, perspectives of others in relation to you. No matter what you wanted to know, if it was relatable to you, you could see it. I know it's silly, but as time goes on I just want it to be real, and I don't think I'd have any issue allowing myself to fall into that delusion."
eggwardpenisglands
I think nothing happens...
"Realistically, I think nothing happens. We literally experience nothing after death. Same thing that we experience before birth. We don't exist, so it's nothing. I think the tenant that we should follow while living is to try to be happy and healthy while minimizing the damage we do to each other."
"What I would LIKE to happen after death is whatever you believe in, exists. I think Christians should get to go to heaven if they truly believe in it, Hindus and Buddhists get reincarnated, and everyone else also gets to experience what they believe they will experience."
"'I would still experience Nothing. Maybe it's one of those things where at the moment of death their brain makes them experience what feels like an infinitely long moment in time where they experience their afterlife. I just think it would be neat for everybody."
Better_Meat_
Shrug
"Best advice I received from a dear senior on their way out. 'You win some, you lose some' shrug. Nothing divine, life is that simple and wonderful, accept it and move on."
Tune_Kindly
It all sounds pretty simple. Why are people so up in arms about Atheists?
Whatever
"I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do."
imCIK
Cool with Empty
"Nothing. [Serious]."
rumblingtummy29
"I feel this way about death. When I was 5, my grandfather died and my cousin simple said, he is dead, that means you are gone forever. Everything ends up dying, even plants and animals. I'm now in my 40's and still have this simplistic view of life and death. People think I'm ambivalent to life and death but it's just what it is."
thepigfish82
puppet-masters...
"I think a lot of religious people struggle with the fact that we are all just swirling units of chaos. There is no grand plan or great orchestrator. I think that’s why people who are prone to religion are also susceptible to things like Q anon and the Cabal and all that. They REALLY want to believe that there is some almighty puppet-master who determines all of humanity’s fate."
Lngtmelrker
“we’re living in a society!”
"Just be a kind and empathetic person not because you’re worried about some cosmic justice, but because it’s the right thing to do. If there is some being that created us there’s no way they actually care about believing in it or adhering to some rules from over 2000 years ago."
"Also a big thing for me is that I find the idea that you need religion or the Bible in order to have morals and ethics pretty dumb. It’s pretty f**king clear that most evangelicals have neither. But my main thing is being a good person simply because, as George Costanza once said we’re living in a society!' If you’re only a good person in order to make it to heaven you probably aren’t actually a good and moral person."
conservative_genius
That's All
"You're born. You live. You die. That's it. After you die you cease to exist, the same as before you were born."
serefina
Believe what you want. We're all here together. So let's focus there.
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The list of what irritates me is endless.
I mean... breathing too loud or dust can set me off.
I'm a bit unstable, yes.
But I'm not alone.
So let's discuss.
Redditor Aburntbagel6 wanted to hear about all the times many of us just couldn't control our disdain. They asked:
"What never fails to piss you off?"
I feel like this article can go on forever. Let's get some highlights.
Wasted Time
"Meetings that could and should have been an email."
Sirena609
Lotto People
"Getting stuck behind people playing the lottery at a corner store."
thenuggetlover
"I also used to work in a gas station and you’re SO right. I f**king hated the lottery people. Especially since my store had a small staff and there was usually only one of us working at a time, which meant that I couldn’t get any of my other work done as long as they were there."
"And you’re right, it’s also pretty sad to watch. I had one lady who used to come in every day and spent hundreds and HUNDREDS of dollars on scratch tickets. One day, she won $200 after spending probably around $600 and she was so excited and saying she can 'finally pay her bills.'"
i-am-your-god-now
Aware...
"No situational awareness. Job, home, shopping, driving. Think for one minute and go about. OBSERVE!!"
Dizzy-Foundation8122
"My mom is one of those people who leave the shopping cart in the middle of the damn aisle and proceed to walk twenty feet away. After correcting her a million times to no effect I just walk away now so people don’t know I’m with her."
OutrageousEvent
Shut Up!
"Endless barking in the middle of the night, I love animals but that sh*t I can't stand."
Acceptable-Lemon2924
"Endless barking in general drives me up a wall. One of my friends dogs was barking almost an entire gaming session the other day. I wanted to reach through the computer and smack him for letting it go on."
bangersnmash13
Kindness
"People being mean to service workers, especially if the workers are very young."'
scaryboilednoodles
All of these things. I hate them all.
Admit It
"People who never accept fault when they mess something up. Like, why blame a million people when it was clearly you who did it???"
Quirky-Area-8978
From Above
"My upstairs neighbors."
lutzow89
"I had terrible neighbors at my previous apartment. It was a one person studio for students, but her boyfriend was clearly living with her illegally and he was loud."
"One night we knocked n the door at 3 AM because of the loud music and an unknown girl opened the door. I just thought they were having a little party. But the next door I saw the girl living there come home with a suitcase after having been away for the weekend... Her BF was cheating on her in her own apartment."
Th3_Accountant
Move Away
"People who sit directly next to me at the airport, movie theater, any other place where you can choose a seat when there is PLENTY of other seating."
BacardiPardy33
"I can’t YES this enough and the ones who can’t park for crap so they park so close you can’t open doors on one side of the car or the ones who park directly behind when you pulled through so the door won’t open to load groceries."
BacardiPardy33
It's Over
"People who try to restart old drama. Like I'm done with you, just leave me alone."
Tired_Potatos
"Yep, half the reason I've basically quit playing one of my favorite online video games. People keep bringing old crap up or sh*tting on on someone who used to be our friend. I got tired of it so I just ejected the game out of me."
CaucasianHumus
AHHHHH!!!
"People walking too slow in front of me with no way to get around them. It’s even worse if it’s a couple or group taking up the whole sidewalk. HAVE SOME SPATIAL AWARENESS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!"
_-v0x-_
Life in general pisses me off. I'm easy.
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