The 1966 sci-fi classic Star Trek has always held some hidden gems. One in particular sparks a conversation around a regular fact of life: sometimes we do everything right and still lose.
In one scene, Captain Jean Luc Picard requests Commander Data to help him on the bridge of the spaceship. Data tries to suggest that Picard choose someone else as his first in command.
Data said:
"I have not been able to isolate the problem, sir. I might make a mistake."
Picard took a few steps toward him, closing the distance between them, and gives him an order.
Before leaving, Picard turned to Data and said:
"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose."
"That is not a weakness. That is life."
This statement was an encouragement to not let fear or self-doubt get in the way of action and the pursuit of what must be done in the way of your own self. Failure is just a part of life.
This scene sparked Redditor NeonDragon76 to ask:
"Picard said, 'It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose,' what is your real life example of this?"
We compiled some of the moments where no matter our efforts, life got in the way.
In a relationship that just wasn't meant to be.
"Being the best partner you can be in a relationship and having them fall out of love or cheat on you."
- sugarplumbuttfluck
"Relationships are very much like that. Stories always make them seem directly attainable - you do the right thing, and the person will fall in love with you, you keep doing the right thing and they'll stay with you forever. But in reality... like, if someone doesn't want to date you, and then you rescue them from a burning building, they still won't want to date you."
- LtLabcoat
"Learned the hard way that you can be as good a partner as possible - still doesn't matter if the problem is one you have no control over to fix..."
- TorTheGasman
"Yup. I spend three years as my ex's emotional punching bag and therapist before I realized how f**ked up it was and left."
- ManySpectrumWeasel
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They didn't go first.
"I’ve lost many board games and card games simply because I didn’t go first."
- super-goblin
"I remember my cousin bringing out mancala and was so excited to play it. After two games I realized the first player would always win if you played correctly and asked her if I could play first since I was new and proceeded to win every game then told her the strategy. She was dejected at the time, but I like to think she went on to beat other people with it after that."
- geshtar
Not getting the job.
"Not getting a job offer from the interview."
"Sometimes you didn’t do anything wrong. Sometimes the other candidates were just better."
- BrokenHeartedOctopus
"Sometimes, you were just as good, but they simply had to make a choice because of the limited amount of vacancies."
- Lvcivs2311
Not getting bonuses for something out of their control.
"My team at work getting absolutely reamed out and having year-end bonuses denied to us because of a major outage on one of our systems... The outage was caused by a bug that we were among the first in the world to experience and the vendor hadn't even published an advisory yet much less released the patch to fix it."
"There was literally nothing we could have done to avoid it."
- Hrekires
"Wonder how many people are going to quit over that bullsh*t."
- Montzterrr
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Getting fired.
"When despite doing everything your boss tells you, you still get fired."
- MaverickYankee
"Or when you outperform everyone else on your team for years and are due for a promotion but instead your boss's freshly hired 20 years younger girlfriend gets the promotion."
"I literally quit two days after."
- RealMainer
Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
"IBS."
"Sometimes you can be very careful to avoid all your triggers, and still end up stuck in the bathroom for a few hours."
- grmrsan
"Yes, and then spending those cursed toilet hours going back over the last day or two trying to work out what you did differently despite knowing you intentionally only eat the same things for this exact reason."
- NeonDragon76
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Getting into professional sports.
"Sports."
"Someone can do absolutely everything right. They can work harder than anybody else. Play to the highest level that their talent allows, and they still will not make it professionally."
"No matter the amount of effort I put in, I simply will never throw a 100 MPH fastball."
- RockySlough
"I think a lotta people forget that genetics is a very important component of athletic performance. I could train every single day and be absolutely jacked and would still get destroyed in any game of basketball because I'm 5’3."
- dogsonboats
Relationships with our parents.
"My brother was always that kind of son who made everything he wasn't supposed to do. I tried to be the best daughter I could and support my mom in everything she needed. Now my brother has a really good relationship with her and I barely talk with her."
- Uncomfortable_Mind
"Right. I feel your pain deeply. My brother did the same kind of thing, my dad was problematic so I had to be strong for mom. Do you think we didn’t test their love? Lost son syndrome? What is it?"
- HerrLangschlong
Working in the medical field.
"I worked as a paramedic for 15 years. You can do everything right but if it’s not going to happen it’s just not going to happen."
- medic8388
"I was an EMT for 3 years and left to become a flight attendant. When it's your time, it's your time, and there isn't much we can do."
- tommygunz007
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The Candidate Who Stuck Around
"A coworker told me once that I was picked for my job on a sort of coin toss. Both I and the other candidate were equally qualified and nothing we did really made one better than the other. They took a chance on me because I seemed less likely to jump after a year or two like most people who applied for that job were doing to do."
"Funny thing was, that was exactly my intention when I got the job but I've ended up staying way longer."
– battraman
Blessing In Disguise
"Also a chance the job was never really available in the first place. Some companies require a job get posted publicly and external candidates be interviewed even when an internal candidate is already selected. Or maybe the nephew of the boss needed a job but they have to interview people. I’ve been involved in a handful of interviews where I’ve strongly preferred a candidate that lost out for reasons beyond their control."
"Also, sometimes not getting the job is a blessing. A coworker/buddy and I wound up going after the same position at a new company. I nailed the interview and honestly I had experience and skills beyond that of my friend so I thought I had it in the bag. They took my buddy. Confidence took a hit, but fast forward about 6 months and buddy hates it there. They start furloughing employees and he quits shortly after that. Meanwhile I got a promotion and set me on a path that led to considerably more money somewhere else. Never can tell how things turn out sometimes, but don’t let job rejections get you down. It’s their loss they didn’t take you 😉"
– Blues_Stl
Road Hazards
"Driving comes to mind. A lot of collisions involve one person doing everything they should be and another being an idiot. Although you followed all of the rules of the road you still lost by getting rear ended by someone on their phone."
– [deleted]
The Setback
"I've been spending two years and 20K in college debt to become a personal trainer. I'm supposed to graduate this spring."
"Then my back got ruined in a car crash last month. The prognosis being 'ongoing pain management.'"
"Screw me, right? 'Cause it's not like I'm trying to escape my current life situation or anything. /s"
– Hollogram_Janeway
The Favorite
"My brother was always that kind of son who made everything he wasn't supposed to do. I tried to be the best daughter I could and support my mom in everything she needed. Now my brother has a really good relationship with her and I barely talk with her."
– Uncomfortable_Mind
When You Can't Compete
"Old job hunting saying: you can have the perfect interview and they can still hire their nephew."
– mjk1260
Luck Of The Draw
"Life is like poker in a way. Your outcomes are a result of your decisions and luck. Sometimes you can make all the right decisions and still have a bad outcome or lose. Also, some people start with better hands."
"Conversely the opposite can happen where you make poor decisions and win."
"However making good decisions (no mistakes) puts you in a better position to have a good outcomes."
– Actuaryba
Sometimes it may feel that we have everything under control and then life throws us a curve ball.
As Picard said, it's not weakness, it just is the way it is. It's how we move on from those moments and find other ways of continuing that show our strength.
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For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.
Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.
The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.
Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:
"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"
Serious Danger
"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."
"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."
oofboof2020
Waiting for Food
"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."
"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."
nowhereboy1964
Captain Hobo to the Rescue
"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."
"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"
"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."
FartAttack911
Survival
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"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."
faithfulpoo
These Tsunami stories are just tragic.
On the Sand
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"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."
oyloff
Be Clever
"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."
OstneyPiz
Bad Jokes
"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."
Alegan239
YOU
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"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"
PrettyLola2004
Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.
No one should talk to others in the dark though.
Not all pet owners have the same relationship with their pets.
While anyone who decides to become a pet owner, or pet parent as some say, love their pets equally, some never ever let them leave their side.
Taking their pet with them to work, running errands, even on vacations.
Many pet parents even allow their pets to share their bed with them when going to sleep.
For others though, this is where a line is finally drawn.
Redditor Piggythelavasurfer was curious to hear whether pet owners allowed their pets to share their bed with them, as well as the reasons why they do/don't, leading them to ask:
"Do you let your pet sleep in your bed? Why/why not?"
The Tiny Issue Of Water...
"Absolutely not."
"I have fish."- Senior-Meal3649
Everyone Gets Lonely Eventually...
"I adopted an eleven year old cat the day before Halloween."
"She has mostly lived in my closet since I got her, and she hasn’t been too interested in coming out."
"Last night, she came out of my closet and jumped up on my bed, and crawled under my covers and curled up by my feet to sleep."
"I was so happy!"- YellowBeastJeep
The Comforting Reminder That You're Not Alone...
"I recently lost my Greyhound but I used to let him sleep on my bed with me."
"The company was nice and he was no trouble to have on my bed."- HoodedMenace3
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What Do You Mean Allow?
"I have no choice."
"She is a cat, cats do whatever they want."- Small_cat1412
"He lets me sleep in my bed."- Poorly-Drawn-Beagle
Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way
"I carry my old boy upstairs to bed every night."- worst_in_show
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Who Needs An Alarm Clock?
"I let my two cats sleep with me."
"They're so full of love and just want cuddles all the time."
"And so do I."
"We've all developed a lil routine."
"Get to bed, oldest sleeps on my feet to keep them warm, youngest lies in my arm while I lie on my side (she the little spoon), then when I snooze my alarm for work in the morning the youngest paws at my face and meeps loudly to wake me up."- GhostofaFlea_
Whose Bed Is It Anyway?
"Yes."
"They're also kind enough to let me squeeze into whatever space they've left for me."
"Although I do get a few dirty looks off them."- Therealkaylor
"I found this tiny kitten screaming her head off under a car."
"Would not come out."
"Got some food and some water in dishes."
"I stood by the tire so she couldn't see my feet."
"She got curious about the food and water and started gobbling it down."
"I thought she would bolt when I squatted down."
"She was too busy eating."
"I grabbed her by the nape of the neck and all four legs went straight out and she tried to scratch me to death."
"I got her in the door and tossed her toward the couch."
"She ricocheted off the couch as if she was a ping pong off a table and I lost sight of her."
"I put out food and water and a sandbox and did not see that kitten for three days."
"On the third day, I came home and she was on my bed pillow."
"I thought she would bolt when I came near, but she didn't."
"I wanted to sleep so I tried to scoot her little butt off my pillow."
"She would not go."
"I put my head down to sleep and that is the way it was from then on."
"She ran the roost."- Logical_Cherry_7588
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Sleeping Is A Prerequisite...
"No, he's a cat and he cannot keep still during the night."
"He walks across the headboard, opens the closet doors, jumps into the windows and rustles the blinds, etc."
"If he would sleep he could stay, but alas, he's a ramblin' man."- Spong_Durnflungle
Saying No Just Isn't An Option...
"'Let'."
"Lol."
"It's a cat's world and I'm happy to be on her good side."- milaren
Felines Only!
"The cat does, the dog doesn't and the horse certainly does not either."- Xcrowzz
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Is That My Hair On That Pillow?
"My dog is perfect."
"She comes up, cuddles til we start to fall asleep, then gets down to sleep on her bed so she doesn't get too hot."
"Jumps back up in the early morning for wake up cuddles."
"The hair everywhere is the only downside but she is so cozy, what can you do."- HoodieWinchester
It is easy to understand how some people are able to fall asleep more easily knowing their friend and protector is there, in bed, with them.
Though we can't blame others who don't want to run the risk of being scratched or bitten in the middle of the night either...
The old wives' tales.
They are the stories of legend.
I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.
Where did they originate?
WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!
You don't hear about them as much anymore.
It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.
But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.
Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:
"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"
"Wait an hour to swim after eating."
What a crock!
So many summer hours wasted.
I want revenge for that one.
Say Nothing
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"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."
LonelyMail5115
"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."
I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA
Say Something
"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."
Severe_Airport1426
"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."
crappycurtains
"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."
AlbinoShavedGorilla
Body Temps
"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."
chriseo22
"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."
"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."
apocalypticradish
Arms Down
"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."
Fatmouse84
10 Years Actually
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"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."
"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."
Gecko-911
I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.
This tale is haunting.
High/Low
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"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."
LeastFormal9366
"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."
IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI
The Cursed
"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."
"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."
SmoreOfBabylon
Stay In
"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."
"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."
worldbound0514
Dreams and Facts
"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."
"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."
mattshonestreddit
"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."
Darthdemented
Cracked
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"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."
Choice-Grapefruit-44
"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."
MacyTmcterry
I love my knuckles.
Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.