The greatest lesson I ever got when working with children was when a jolly old grandmother who saw my bafflement when a kid, unprompted, was a total jerkface. She chuckled, nudged me with her purse before delivering some wisdom into my life that I had no idea I needed.
"The young ones are terrible people, but they're supposed to be ya know? Youth is where you learn how to people - and not everyone is good at everything right away."
She was right - but some things are downright unexplainably crappy, even to other kids. One reddit user asked about the things "popular kids" did that instantly made them unpopular ... and fam ... wow.
BUT
Here is my big takeaway from all of this ... Yes, the things some of these kids did were just atrocious (or atrociously dumb in the case of the Jim Beam guy) but, what's also true is that the others saw it and reacted the same way and enacted whatever little brand of justice they could dole out.
Young people cancel culture might just save the day when they're older.
Delayed Reaction
GiphyA guy at my school got drunk at a party, got naked and inserted his penis into a Jim Beam bottle and ran around all crazy like with it attached but not having to use his hands.
At the time it was quite a laugh but it wasn't until a day or so later people thought about how small the opening was to a Jim Beam bottle. That was basically the end of him.
- r-tyme
An Awkward Uprising
There was the cool guy group with like 14 people and their "leader" and then one day the guys got too tired of him and then the guys basically did an uprising and then some other guy replaced him. It was awkward.
- Nemukaso
Violence Against An Autistic Child
He punched the autistic kid then proceeded to get jumped by every single guy that saw him in school for the next week until his parents had him switch schools
The school gave up on punishing the kids beating him up because there were just too damn many kids it was over half the population of kids at the school that would insult or punch, slap, etc whenever they saw him. I never participated but that's cause he bullied me and could easily wipe the floor with my corpse if I tried to do anything to him.
Yellow
When she made fun of me in front of everyone for wearing a yellow shirt to school. It was just a plain yellow shirt. That's it. Just yellow. That was her whole insult. She somehow found a way to mock the colour.
It was so unnecessary, and made her look like someone who was just rude for no reason. Everyone suddenly realized that she thought people were automatically on her side because she was somewhat rich and popular.
She just became a joke after that.
The Least Popular Kid
He thought picking on my particular group of friends would be cool, as we were the "weird ones." Well little did he know that losing that fight to the least popular kid would make him the pinnacle of comedy.
Mac Truck
He teased my best friend for being built like a Mac truck. She picked him up and put him up side down in the garbage can. He lost any coolness he had.
She is still crazy strong for a woman her age. As kids when her mom needed a jar opened she'd hand it to my friend and not her dad.
Grandma
GiphyOne of the kids at our school lived with his grandma cause his parents died. A dickhead and a group of his mates started harassing the old lady whenever she came to pick him up. Other students saw it and were disgusted, so they got together and reported it all to the principal.
Whatever they did to her must have been bad because they ended up getting expelled all together.
- l0l_g09
He Should Have Just Studied
My classmate did not prepare for the geography test and called the school, saying that it was mined/there was a bomb. He called from a payphone, which stood on the ground floor of the school.
We were 13, he was tried for it.
Kid B's Mom
He f*cked his friend's mom at a party and then bragged and mocked friend endlessly.
Let's call popular kid A and his friend B. B's mom was arrested (as she should've been) and B faced torment from basically everyone that knew what happened. Kid A continued to brag about his actions.
Eventually people gained sympathy for B and kid A lost his popularity real fast. I understood the mother to be a predator but it wasn't til years after that that I fully understood it for what it was in it's entirety.
It's so hard being young and a male at that. In this situation he saw it as an opportunity to bragging rights and probably as some twisted form of "manliness" - which could've been a defense mechanism looking back at it.
They're both victims in this, regardless of how A went about it.
Compulsive Liar
He was a compulsive liar and pretty much made up an entire fake story about him being in a gang and always going to these crazy ass parties. He always said he was mixed when he clearly was not. He said his dad had just gotten out of prison and got this really cool job. Basically he just lied about a bunch of stupid sh!t.
Eventually everyone found out and he lost all of his friends.
100% Deserved It
She was 16 and made fun of a freshman girl with cancer. Made a joke like, "Why don't you ask your mom to buy you a wig; I can see your scalp"
Overnight, she was the least liked person in school, and 100% deserved it.
Independence Day
how i met your mother usa GIFGiphyHe knew he tested positive for COVID-19 yet he said "Fck it, it's the fourth!" and went to an outdoor gathering to drink and watch the fireworks. He ended up infecting 10 people (as of now).
He's since been kicked out of groups and shunned.
Serial Killer Stuff
People found out he was killing animals in super f*cked up ways. Held a dog under water until it drowned. Ran over a cat with a lawn mower. Used baseball bats and machetes. Dude was doing some serial killer level stuff.
Now he's in the army, oh boy do I feel protected.
Embarrassing Himself
He cheated on his (also popular) girlfriend and she got told about it. He then tried to beat up the guy that told her and proceeded to not land a single hit and only embarrass himself.
- marloso2
Dumb And Jacked Up
Throughout middle school I attended a summer camp where you basically are with a group of kids in the same grade as you, and you spend all day just playing sports or games or things of that nature. Generally we were laid back and fun, but things could often get intense on the big field there - and since everyone in our group was a middle school boy, we were all dumb and jacked up.
However, there was a blind boy who attended the camp who wanted to play capture the flag with the "older boys" (our group) We used a ball that made a beeping noise and the general consensus was that we would let him win the game because, you know, we're not psychopaths.
The boy got the ball and his aide was helping him bring it back to the other side when out of nowhere this absolute jerkoff TABLE-TOPS the poor kid and he eats it. Kid basically got ran out of camp with pitchforks that day.
Crying To Get Back In
3 guys who were seniors tried to climb the school fence near the basketball court during 5th period. 2 of then gave up but one managed to climb the fence and got stuck outside the school. He couldn't climb back in and started crying and apparently had to call the school to be let back in. Probably got in a megaton of trouble after that.
But what really did him in was some snot nosed 1st year got it on video during their basketball lesson, and it made its way around school.
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.