"What was the thing you thought was a lie until you realised it was true?" –– Special thanks to Redditor 
SYETHOUD, who reminds us that things aren't always as they appear.
"When I was 10..."
When I was 10 my mom was giving me the puberty talk. I thought she was lying and trying to scare me when she said that I'd wake up one day with blood in my underwear.
"My older uncle..."
My older uncle told me when I turn 30 go buy a suit because you 'll have a lot of funerals to attend. I'm now late 30s and been to 5 in the past few years.
"This guy..."
This guy acting like he was crazy when I got to college. He was so over the top and since I was at an artsy school, I thought it was an act. Later in the year he launched himself from a third-story balcony into the dining hall. Yeah, it wasn't an act.
"Later, I realized the appeal..."
That adults put their tongues in each other's mouths on purpose and that they like it. Legit thought the other girls in kindergarten were lying and it made me nauseous. Later, I realized the appeal..... much much later.
"When I was 6..."
When I was 6, I asked my mom how babies were made. She told me very matter-of-factly that a man puts his penis inside a woman's vagina. I thought she was making up a weird, gross lie to avoid telling me the real truth.
"While changing countries..."
While changing countries, I was told that I would feel a sense of homelessness and I didn't really believe it. I've been away for college and back to my home country during summer for almost 3 years now, and I have acquired a constant feeling of being misplaced both at the country I've moved to AND at my home country. It's terrible.
"My mom told me..."
My mom told me that after high school, I'd lose some of my closest friends. "They're going to move on and start turning into other people over time." I laughed that off because I thought we weren't going to be like that.
We were just seven unpopular kids with a hilarious group chat. We did so much together. Now, there's two of us left.
I miss them.
"That my friend..."
That my friend could not be trusted.
It should not have taken 11 years to accept that.
If everyone around you doesn't like somebody that you're close to, and has good reason for their distrust, take their word for it and really, REALLY rethink if the way they treat you is truly better than just being alone.
"I was in my mid-20s..."
I was in my mid-20s when I discovered that narwhals were actual animals and not made up like unicorns.
"That kids..."
That kids pick their nose and ate boogers. I always thought it was just a mean rumor kids spread about other kids. Then when I was 17 or 18 my best friend casually mentioned that she did it as a kid. Mind. Blown.
"Hit and Run"
I thought one of my good friends killed two people in a hit and run.
We knew he was a crazy aggressive driver. He lived a block from where the accident occurred. We knew he would've been coming home on that street at around that time. The witness description matched his vehicle.
And he suddenly disappeared to Mexico two days after it happened. When he came back, he didn't have his vehicle.
We knew somebody in our group must have tipped off the police, because when he came back a couple weeks later, he told us all about how he was questioned upon his return from Mexico. He said he went to go see his ailing grandpa, and they decided to stay a couple extra weeks so his mom could make plans for a lengthy visitation over the Summer. He left his vehicle there so his mom could drive around in a safer, less Lexus-shaped car.
They didn't have enough evidence to arrest him, his story checked out, and they let him go without incident.
For years we thought he had gotten away with vehicular manslaughter. It was kind of the "dark secret" between us that we didn't bring up openly. We were all pretty certain he was guilty, and the police completely failed in thoroughly investigating him, probably because he came from an affluent family of lawyers.
Turns out we were wrong. About 10 years after the fatal hit and run, some random old guy who lived 20 miles away was arrested for DUI hit and run. His vehicle matched the description of another recent hit and run. They did some digging to see just how many hit and runs this guy had, and they found evidence that would've put him at the one we thought our friend did. He plead guilty, and last I checked, faced 20+ years.
So I'm conflicted. Do I owe my friend an apology for simply thinking he was guilty, and expressing that thought to other people who already felt the same way? Or do I just forego the apology, recognize I never brought it up to his face, and leave behind a chapter I'm sure he'd like to leave behind as well?
'On purpose'
That adults put their tongues in each other's mouths on purpose and that they like it. Legit thought the other girls in kindergarten were lying and it made me nauseous. Later, I realized the appeal..... much much later.
People eat cactus
I hear Cactus juice is very thirst-quenching.
Drink cactus juice, it'll quench ya! Nothings quenchier! It's the quenchiest!
Unicorn is the national animal of Scotland.
Scotland is now my favorite country
Probably a little late for anyone to see this, but it's not that odd really. The unicorn was picked in the 12th century because it was believed to fight the lion, which was England's symbol. Nobody in Scotland had seen a unicorn, sure, but nobody in England had seen a lion either. The unicorn was about as reasonable to believe in for Scots as the lion was for English, and appears in bestiaries well through the Renaissance.
"Running Out'
That the world is running out of beach sand. Erosion is stripping all the sand from the shores into the ocean, and desert sand is too fine to replace it. It's so bad that many countries have a sand black market.
Edit: Black Market is of River and Beach sand to build artificial land and replenish beach sand.oyal
'Made up"
I was in my mid-20s when I discovered that narwhals were actual animals and not made up like unicorns.
Curious to hear about some of the more creepy indiscretions people get away with, Redditor Flytechofficial asked:
"What is perfectly legal, but creepy as hell?"
These things that happen in public restrooms can be considered criminal.
Respecting Splash Zones
"Using the urinal next to me when there were plenty of other choices."
Nightmare For The Pee-Shy
"hanging out in a public bathroom timing how long people pee."
Bad Timing
"I swear to God. I did a lot of work in hospitals for a while, big f'king hospitals with tons of bathrooms all over the place. For some God damned reason, regardless of what time or bathroom I selected to take a sh*t in not 30 seconds after I sat down a janitor would knock on the door to clean the bathroom. It's not as if it was one janitor, just some random janitor would inevitably need to clean whatever bathroom I was in as soon as I got comfy. It's like I was being stalked by the janitors."
"So now I'm trying to take a sh*t knowing full well there's somebody out there actively timing how long it takes."
Looky-Loo
"I was drunk in a casino and went to use the washroom. The floors in there were a polished marble or something. Sitting on the toilet, pants down, my stall neighbour made eye contact with me on the reflective floor tile."
The following examples involving minors have no legal repercussions.
Outside Watchers
"Technically, you can stand on the sidewalk and stare into someone's house through a window. It's not illegal as long as you stay off of their property, but it's really freaking creepy."
Keeping Tabs On Someone's Age
"A national newspaper having a countdown for when a child actress becomes 'legal' for sex."
"Answers to questions that will surely come. ....Yes. The Sun (UK). Emma Watson."
– pdirth
The Young Subjects
"When I was a child, we had a creepy horrible neighbor that would harass my family constantly. One of the things he did was stand at the corner of his yard and videotape me playing in a pool with my friends (we were around 8). My parents called the police but were told that it's legal if he's on his property."
These perfectly harmless examples can give you goosebumps.
Macabre
"Hanging your doll collection from the trees in your yard using string made from human hair."
People's Taste
"I believe the act of cannibalism itself is legal so long as you didn't murder anyone to do it. If your homie gives you his arm to gnaw on, it's fair game."
I recently treated myself by going to a movie theater after what seemed like a long hiatus for much of the year.
Streaming blockbuster movies from home, while convenient, has never made as much of an impact when compared to the moviegoing experience.
But after my recent trip to our local AMC, I'm beginning to think watching entertainment from the comfort of my quiet home is a much better option.
I forgot that a good majority of audience members are disrespectful and pretty much ignore all the rules—including no texting or talking during the movie.
The normal volume conversations and the number of lit screens from people's smartphone's in my peripheral vision throughout the movie were huge distractions.
Maybe as I'm getting older, my patience has worn thin, or I happened to have a particularly unpleasant experience. But seriously, how can anyone enjoy going to the movies when people are constantly updating their status inside a darkened auditorium?
It should illegal. Rant over.
I feel like if there is nothing after life, it just invalidates life. But maybe I'm just dramatic. I hope there is peace. Thoughts?
black and white two funerals GIFTogether...
"When we die, the whole world as seen by us, dies together with us."
"Yes it does. As does the entire universe. Only when we are alive can we experience the passage of time. The instant we die the entire universe will experience heat death and cease to be. It my take a million eons but since we can no longer experience time it will be relatively instantaneous."
- OkEbb749
Thanks Alan
"It's one of the great wonders of life: What will it be like to go to sleep and never wake up? And if you think long enough about that, something will happen to you. You will find out, among other things, that it will pose the next question to you: What was it like to wake up after never having gone to sleep? That was when you were born. You see, you can't have an experience of nothing. Nature abhors a vacuum. ~Alan Watts"
So Romantic...
"When I was much younger, I had a dream where I died. Not a typical dream, not a romanticized dream. It was a dream where I was an archer in a medieval battle. About 5 minutes into the battle, chaos was all around me, and I watched an opposing archer aim and loose an arrow straight into my left eye."
"I remember the sensation of impact, ringing in my ears, and falling to the ground. I remember the warmth of the blood on my face. The feeling of life leaving my body, and the sense of worry evaporating into warmth and peace as the world left behind me."
"I remember waking up shortly after thinking that the feeling and reality of that experience was so vivid and so detailed that it must have been an experience from a previous incarnation hundreds of years ago. From that moment on, I've never feared the actual process of death. I feel like I've experienced it many times before."
Erase
Computer Reaction GIFGiphy"I think one of your best friends delete's your browsing history."
"Take the hard drive out of my computer at home… Put it in the bath… And make sure it's completely wiped. -Tensai Slime"
If you love me... rule number one... HIDE THE EVIDENCE!!! Let that be heard far and wide. And dreams, always so intertwined aren't they?
Before & After
Happy Baby GIFGiphy"Exactly the same as before you were born."
- whumoon
"I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it. -Mark Twain"
Moving On...
"We clean the bed and assign it to another patient."
"The REAL reason why nurses are so dark. 90 year old man in hospice got hit by a car on his way to get fitted for his funeral tuxedo, and didn't have a DNR. Kept him alive for four hours, and now it's time to document everything that was done to save his life because there will inevitably be a lawsuit from a family member who has had four years to say goodbye but somehow didn't get to."
Again...
"Play again?
Yes
[No]
I don't know what they mean or how to utilize them. I'm a Buddhist (but a gamer first and foremost) so it's cool you guys made those connections This totally makes up for r/movies continuously banning me."
Oblivion...
"I've answered this one before but here it is again. Either two things happen after you die: you either go somewhere or it's oblivion. If it is oblivion, then we're just going back to the same place before we were born and there's nothing wrong with that. We were there for billions or trillions of years, possibly infinity."
"You lose that concept of time since your brain doesn't work anymore so you don't even know it's over. It's not nothing because nothing would be something and that means that you are aware, which you can not be if you're dead. If we do go somewhere, then that's something no one understands because no one has ever come back to tell us."
"Those stories of people coming back after they "died" and "saw stuff" weren't really dead. Their hearts stopped but their brains were still working. If the Universe continues to recycle itself infinitely, then there's a chance we will be reborn or continuously reborn but have no memory of our previous selves."
- jamoh20
On Holiday
"When I was a kid I drowned while on holiday with my family, a giant fat man jumped in the pool on top of me and no one noticed till I was on the bottom of the pool. I remember the feeling of my lungs being on fire, then shivering then as everything was going dark a strange sense of peace and I was ok with it, No panic or terror then it went black."
"I was resuscitated at the side of the pool a few minutes later. I remember nothing from the black to being "alive" again. I was around 7 when it happened and since then I've been strangely at peace with the fact that one day I will die and slip into the dark void of nothingness. Hope that helps."
Popcorn?
500 days of summer cinema GIFGiphy"You wake up in a chair in a cinema and learn that the other are past lives of you and you're about to watch your next life very soon on the big screen."
The truth is none of us know the truth. We live everyday with the afterlife being a gamble. And that seems like it's going to have to be enough.
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