"Legend" is a descriptor often associated with those who are fearless, audacious, and awe-inspiring.
Curious to hear about the people who've left quite an impression on others during high school, Redditor Nearby-Level6472 asked:
"What made the 'high school legend' become a legend?"
These legends each had their distinctive methods for attaining their status.
Mr. Lev
"Our legend was actually the gym teacher. He became a legend by getting hit by a bus, getting up, getting on the bus and asking if everyone was OK. He ended up getting fired about 5 years after I graduated because he was caught soaking raisins in vodka and then eating them over the course of the day. Never change Mr. Lev."
The Hybrid
"His last name was 'Alcock' and he ran for student council..."
"His campaign posters consisted simply of his slogan:"
"Part man...Part machine...ALCOCK."
The Brother
"My brother ran in to the statue of our high school mascot with his truck at night. Knocked the bulldog off it's platform then threw it in the back of the truck. It ended up in a pond out by our house. My brother, who was a massive wallflower in school, and never told a soul until he mentioned it to me over some beers in our 30s."
"No one ever knew who it was but it was a big deal and I remember tons of allegations, accusations, and rumors as to how our mascot disappeared. Never in my life would I have ever suspected my brother."
"Legendary in my eyes."
– Finiouss
The Hero
"When I was in 11th grade, a guy a year older than me, in grade 12, saved a grade 9 girl from being abducted by her estranged father in the school parking lot. Her dad hadn't been in her life for years and had previously tried to take her from her elementary school. This being her first year in high school, I guess he tried again. The 12th grader heard her scream as her dad tried to force her into his car and he ran over and got involved, apparently punching the dad before the dad got back in his car and sped off."
"Guy was a legit hero at the school."
– BigPZ
The Heroic Reader
"Not high school but elementary school. We had this system where if we read a book we could take a quiz online ab the book and we'd get points for how much of it we got correct and at the end of the year the students that had a certain amount of points got to go to this after school party with waterslides and food trucks and it was a alot of fun. Anyways, this buddy of mine would read all these big long hard books (they were worth the most points) and hed take the quizes, write down the answers and pass them around to other students and by the end of the year, there were ab 50 students who went to that party including myself all thanks to him. Hope youre doing alright James!"
– ThyEagle
Thief Catcher
"During gym class we noticed people's change and stuff would go missing here and there, as it was a british school with uniforms and blazers etc. Someone left their ipod recording in their blazer pocket and we caught the girl who'd been stealing our change red handed LMAO. It was so crazy bc she was like the richest kid, she was actually a semi-successful child actor who'd been in several shows."
Mudslide
"So, 'legend' in this case means f'king lunatic. He took the teacher's thermos from the back of the room, not knowing it was hers. He goes to the bathroom, with the thermos. Comes back, with the thermos. She says, 'Oh, you found my thermos! Great, thanks! Just put it on my desk.' He does, and then walks out of the room wordlessly. She opens the thermos in confusion."
"He sh'*t in the thermos."
These legends were never seen by anyone on campus, but their presence was very palpable.
The Mystery Prank
"Halfway through my last year of high school someone managed to put a ceramic toilet on top of our multi story gymnasium. I have no idea how that feat was achieved. The school staff didn't know either, nor could they figure out how to get it OFF the roof once they found it. As a result it remained on the gym for the remainder of my time there."
"I never found out who did it, but I will admire them until my dying day."
These Conspiracy Theories Are Easy to Debunk | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Virtual Arcade
"Someone installed games onto the schools server. There were a bunch of N64 emulators, Peggle, and some other games. But then there were also LAN games that could be played against anyone/everyone in the school including Counterstrike and Halo. Sometimes you'd go on and there'd be no one, other times there'd be 10v10 fight in Blood Gulch."
"It lasted at least 10 years but don't know if it has been taken down since."
He Was Untouchable
"Joe Sticka, class of 1969 at my HS. The guy didn't exist. He was created by a group of my friends as a mid-year transfer student with a totally fabricated deep background that was so smooth 'Joe' even made the yearbook with a 'picture unavailable' caption."
- BoS_Vlad
Some legends are so over-the-top, they put on quite a show.
Best Costume, To Be Frank
"It's pretty stupid but a friend wore a Walmart hot dog costume and for some reason everyone thought it was funny, started chanting hot dog kid and he won the best Halloween costume award of that year."
"Next year he wore a penguin costume and as he stepped up on stage he ripped it off to reveal the hotdog costume underneath. Everybody f'king lost it. Sadly we have a rule that you can't win 2 years in a row so while he didn't get the prize we all knew who had the best costume that day"
"That is how the legend of hot dog kid was born at my high school."
The Ruse
"In ninth grade, one of our teachers got sick so we got a sub. And this kid just starts talking in a strong Spaniard accent (like super well) and convinces the teacher he is from Spain. And he talks this way FOR THREE MONTHS. It was hilarious. And when another kid tried talking as a Spaniard too, he got really upset and accused the other kid of mocking his culture etc. Then when the year ended we had to do a presentation and our teacher who got sick came! So the kid just nodded through the whole presentation while his group mates talked. It was hilarious."
Self-Harm
"He cut his thumb off on a third floor window 5 minutes before final bell and busses. Getting all of us locked in the school of an hour as the ambulance arrived took him away and the school cleaned everything up."
Legend In The Flesh
"We had a carbon monoxide leak at my high school one day in which the entire school was evacuated to the football field. The leak was taking so long to fix, that eventually local news cameras started showing up. At about the 3 hour mark of waiting on the football field, one of the seniors ran naked across the entire length of the football field, IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE SCHOOL. He ran straight at the cameras that were pointed at the field, hopped the fence, and ran across a busy intersection... butt naked."
"One of the funniest things I've ever seen. Every single person, including the teachers, was laughing hysterically."
"Kid became a legend that day for sure."
Facing Consequences
"When I was a freshman, there was a senior on the last week of school who thought it would be legendary to streak on campus. He was 18. He was unable to receive his diploma on stage and had to register as a sex offender."
"Go Wildcats!"
"To add to this, I agree that his punishment was harsher than what seems fair. Taking away his ability to walk on stage in addition ro community service would have been better. & in regards to where this occurred, this was in a suburban high school in Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles."
Hard Evidence
"Someone spread a rumor that Legend had a small pp. He responded by photocopying his Johnson and leaving the pictures on the desks of everyone in the class. He got suspended but set the rumors straights. BDE for sure."
Many young adults feel invincible, but the decisions they make can be a fine line between legendary and pure insanity.
Legends earn their reputation after engaging in ridiculous stunts. If they succeed, the status is earned. If they fail, they fade into obscurity after being laughed off or pitied.
Did you have what it took to become legend, or were you happy just being average?
Personally, I was just happy to survive what I thought was a brutal period in my life.
For me, being a survivor of high school makes me a legend in my own eyes, and I'm sure I'm not alone.
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.