Secrets, lies, and betrayal. That is often the foundation of a family. We can go through life thinking our families are perfect and everyone loves one another, that's the training that keeps us from searching for the skeletons in the closets.
But our secrets will always find a way to break free. We may not even be alive to see the outcome, which is anti-climactic, but they will be out of the dark eventually. And once we learn what some loved ones are hiding, life as we know it can be obliterated.
Some secrets may best be buried. So be really sure you want to know everything.
Redditor u/mykirtowanted to hear about all the family drama they've been uncovered, by asking:
What is the most f**ked up thing you found about your family?
My family has a history that includes the mafia, the FBI, murder in an asylum, alcohol, drugs... the list is endless. And I'd rather just watch Days of Our Lives.
Family Issues
Stephen Colbert Love GIF by The Late Show With Stephen ColbertGiphy"My mother told me that my dad, wasn't my real dad, drunk one night when I was 16. That was 31 years ago. To this day his side of the family still thinks I'm his."
- Traiz3r
Show me the $$$
"One of my uncles borrowed $20,000 from my other more successful Uncle to start a business and refuses to pay his more successful brother back because he's "got so much money already". The more successful uncle refuses to sue him because that's not what family does, but they are no longer on speaking terms."
- mikenyle
Mum is crazy...
"My great-grandmother helped cover up a murder. Claimed the guy was a psychopath and attacked her daughter and granddaughter for no reason. In actuality, my mum was going through a phase where she would try to get men turned on by rubbing her arse on them. This guy pushed her off and told her to screw off."
"My mum took offence to this and claimed the guy was trying to take her clothes off. My grandmother, who was on all the drugs, came out of her room and stabbed the guy to death to protect her daughter. My mum told the truth after the guy was dead and they came up with a cover up story so that they wouldn't get in trouble."
We were on a BREAK!!!
"My grandpa and grandma broke up for a few weeks in August 1962. In that one week my grandpa got drunk one night and got the woman living across the hall from my grandma pregnant, and my grandma had a fling with a married man while on the late shift as a bartender and got pregnant herself. My grandparents got married and my grandma passed my aunt barb off as my grandpas child."
"The other woman gave my aunt Joyce up for adoption. Both were born exactly a week apart. 30 years later my mom was getting married and visited my Grandmas sister to hand out wedding invitations. My Grandmas sister decided that was the perfect occasion to tell my mother out of nowhere that my Aunt Barb was not my grandpas biological daughter. My mom was shocked and confronted my Grandma after the visit and who denied it."
"My mom then decided stupidly to keep it secret. It was kept a secret from my Aunt Barb for 40 years until my aunt Joyce found my grandpa and looked exactly like him. That is when my aunt Barb had a DNA test done and confirmed she wasn't his daughter. It took my aunt barb 17 years to find her real fathers family and she finally found them last year. They all accepted her into the family."
WTF
Steve Harvey Reaction GIFGiphy"My Dad lives in his car and is only given enough money for basic food and is only allowed in the house to clean it. He's more of a household servant than anything."
- Catctus
Yeah, that is a whole lotta mess. That's why sometimes you just have to change your name, or fake your death. These people are crazy.
Captor
Frustrated Skip Bayless GIFGiphy"I have done extensive genealogical research and found that my maternal family enslaved over 700 human beings."
Dirty Grandpa...
"My grandad had sex with everyone of my grandma's 5 sisters, over about 40 years, 3 he had long term affairs with. It all came out at my grandma's 60th birthday party when everyone had too much to drink. Fun times, trying to get between several old women, trying to prevent them from punching one another."
Parents Explain Which Things Surprised Them Most When Their Child Moved Out | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Most Wanted
"While cleaning out a relative's house after his funeral, we discovered that the family member was virtually on a first name basis with every major law enforcement department (city, state and federal) within a 100 mile radius. Among other things, he had consulted on FBI cases."
"He wore his disdain for all politicians openly. So, imagine our surprise to discover that he'd been invited to almost every Presidential inauguration within the last forty'ish years. I never had any illusions that I ever truly knew this family member. But if I had, they would've gone away after discovering all that stuff."
Boxed In
"My great grandfather would lock my uncle in one of those big metal toolboxes you sometimes see in the back of trucks for hours as a form of punishment when he was a kid. I can't even imagine how hot it must have been being locked up outside in one of those during the summer. He must have been terrified. I see now why my uncle's a drug addict with a crap ton of mental health issues. And that's not even the worst thing my great grandfather did but that's not my story to tell."
Smh GIFNo Memory
"Apparently when I was a kid to get me to calm down my dad took me to the bathroom and told me to shut up and quiet down or he was gonna start burning me with a lighter he had in his hand. My sister told me she saw it when she was a kid. I personally have no memory of it. I guess other stuff happened too that I'm not aware of since I was so young. Idk what to think since my dad now like a more normal guy."
He had it Coming...
"My great grandfather was a nasty, abusive man, and possibly schizophrenic. My great grandmother finally shot him dead, in self defense. Great grandma was a strong, strong woman to endure what she did. Our family didn't find out until many years had passed, because the elders just didn't talk about it. We think that there are still undiscovered skeletons on that side, too, but too much time has passed to figure out the details."
Dear Lord...
"My father had been married during WWII while he was in the Navy, before he married my mother. I was told that his wife and infant son were both killed in a car crash. I only recently found out what really happened: while he was at sea, she sent him a "Dear John" letter, asking for a divorce. It seems she had found another man. My father was distraught but did not know what else to do, so he signed the divorce papers she sent to him."
"Once the divorce was filed, the other guy decided he did not want anything to do with her. So she killed their baby and committed suicide. Oh, also she was living with my father's sister and brother-in-law back home in Indiana while he was in the Pacific."
"Wait, I have another one! A first cousin of mine, also dad's side of the family, was adopted when he was maybe 2 years old. I always knew this, so did he. What I did not know (and dk if he knew) was that he was adopted from another of my father's brothers who had repeatedly abused him. So his last name was not an adopted name, he was born with that name."
- codece
My Dad, the Hero
"My grandfather was a classic psycho/sociopath who abused and manipulated my grandmother and his children while maintaining a reputation as a highly intelligent, extremely charming gentleman. My father as the eldest son was his primary target of abuse including things like showing up at his school, drag him out of class while beating him and making him walk barefoot on asphalt all the way home in front of his car on a day where you could literally fry an egg on the surface."
"Once he was home he was forced to dig up the huge garden every day from sunrise to sunset without food or water for a whole month. My dad was 7 years old at the time. And he chased my dad all the way to the border to Afghanistan when my dad finally ran away and hitchhiked to Europe as a teen. I love my wonderful kind and softhearted father because he was able to break the cycle of violence. He has never once in my 40 years raised his hands on any of his children or been anything other than the most supportive dad you could imagine."
"Once he got his life sorted he went back to Pakistan with my mother and got his younger siblings educated, married and set them up for life. He was never able to get an education (grandfather refused to pay his fees) but 3 of his 5 siblings are successful doctors and 1 is a geologist."
"Only his elder sister never got an education, but my dad got her out of an abusive marriage and supported her in building a good life for herself. And he was the shield that protected them for as long as my lunatic grandfather was alive. So yes my grandfather was messed up and most of the stories of his horrific abuse remain untold but it made my dad the heroic backbone of a successful family, and that is the real story to tell."
Accidents
Viola Davis Smh GIF by HULUGiphy"My parents told me about some distant relatives who were playing around with a loaded gun and one accidentally shot himself in the head."
Oh Girl...
"My heroin addicted cousin stole so much money from my grandparents that they legitimately struggled during retirement. My grandfather was a teacher so they didn't have too much to begin with. This cousin is also my godmother but I no longer want to associate with her at all. Also her husband is a white supremacist."
"the backwoods"
"My mother, who is from "the backwoods" of Maine, told me one of her cousins turned out to be a hermaphrodite. When "she" hit puberty, her voice changed and she grew facial hair but no breasts. She was taken to a doctor where they figured out she had internal testicles. I don't remember what the outcome was. This was in the early 50's."
So much tea...
Jon Stewart Popcorn GIFGiphy"Great uncle was a multi millionaire but also a Nazi sympathiser (straight up Nazi is probably more accurate), his brother (my grandpa) worked for the mob."
Adversaries...
"My great Grandfather was a pilot in the Luftwaffe in WWII and took part in the bombing of England. The funny part is my other Great Grandfather flew for the RAF at the same time so there is a good chance that they had tried to shoot each other down at some point in time. They met later in life when they both moved to Australia, apparently they had one conversation about it and agreed to never talk about it ever again, and apparently became really good friends before they died."
Lord DNA can be messy. And now I want to know even less of my family's past. I'm going to cancel my Ancestry DNA package. Let's be strangers.
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Small acts of kindness that only a few know about can change the world.
You never know.
One smile can change one person's day.
And that person could carry it on.
So doing it ourselves may be the only answer.Redditor sashayingthru wanted to discuss the ways we know the world is still good, so they asked:
"What small act of kindness were you once shown that you will never forget?"
As someone who has waited on many tables, just tip properly.
You'll go to Heaven.
Strangers
Robin Williams Dancing GIF by 20th Century Fox Home EntertainmentGiphy"I once walked to a store to buy bags for my vacuum cleaner and I forgot to take my wallet. The shop owner gave me the bags, shook my hand, and told me to bring him to money tomorrow. He put his trust in a total stranger to do the right thing and I did."
Independent-Bike8810
In the Rain
"A man in a full business suit with a briefcase handed me an umbrella in a torrential rain storm and wouldn't take no for an answer. I still had to walk through Times Square to get to the train and I'm sure he got soaked going wherever he was going. A couple of weeks later, I gave the umbrella to a lost girl in my neighborhood when it started to rain and she didn't have one. Felt like the universe wanted it to happen."
"I'll never forget that man though."
im_not_bovvered
Leggo my Lego
"When I was maybe 4 or 5 years old, I made friends with another kid in an airport, and he was playing with a couple glued glued-together Lego cars. Me and that kid played for like an hour with those things and when it was time to go our separate ways and board the plane, the kid insisted I keep one of the cars, and while I insisted he should keep them, he said it was proof that we were friends, and to this day roughly 20 years later, I still have that car packed up with my childhood mementos box."
"That friend of mine was a good kid. Hope he’s doin' well."
givebooks
Don't Cry Tammy
"My husband and I were sitting on our porch holding hands and crying, just feeling overwhelmed because we were waiting to find out whether or not my tumor was cancerous. Our neighbor saw it when he was coming home. About half an hour later he came over with some freshly baked cookies. He didn't even say anything, just smiled, handed them to us, and then went back home."
"Just thinking about that moment has me crying again. From his kindness, not the fear. Tammy the Ti**y Tumor turned out benign!"
Reflection_Secure
Coasting...
Fail Will Ferrell GIF by Paramount PicturesGiphy"I literally coasted into a gas station out of gas on my motorcycle, then realized I didn't have my wallet. Some lady saw me patting all my pockets and I was upset and offered to fill up my tank. I only let her put $5 in, which on a bike is a lot. But it meant so much to me."
Twours1944
Give people gas as often as possible..
Pay it forward.
Generosity
happy silent film GIF by Charlie ChaplinGiphy"My realtor took less commission so that I could get my dream home. It was a rare find in a great neighborhood."
SheLight2
Egged Away
"Years ago my car got egged real badly overnight while parked on the driveway of our duplex. We had to go somewhere the next morning so took the wife’s car. Came back hours later and my car was shining like new on the driveway. The neighbor whose name I didn’t even know at that point had washed it for me while we were away."
Ceristimo
Are those still a thing?
"I was in maybe 4th grade and my parents just had my younger sister, so newborn focused. I went to my school lunch, opened my paper bag (are those still a thing?), and unwrapped the foil holding my sandwich. There was nothing inside. It was actually just 2 slices of dry white slice bread and I was sad."
"Literally, my table mates all chipped in various components and made me the most amazing ham and cheese sandwich I’ve ever had. I’ve been chasing that dragon of ham sandwich since but I’m sure it was the response and not the ingredients that I loved."
I_Am_The_Grapevine
Thanks guys...
"19 years old, first apartment, first winter, first winter utility bill. I smiled and told my coworker I'd just pay it, skip lunch, and eat cheap Mac and cheese for dinner. It'll be ok. All that month co-workers accidentally got extra chips from the vending machine. A wife packed an extra sandwich. A box of my favorite crackers would be on my desk when I came in. It was still hard but I didn't starve. Thanks, you guys."
alady12
Just Tears
Big Brother Omg GIF by Global TVGiphy"I was on the subway, sitting there crying because I had just ended a relationship. I wasn't making any noise, just tears, but the guy sitting next to me gave me some tissues. I'll never forget that."
screamingcupcakes
Some of the best people ride the subway.
Everyone has tissues.
