The Most Bad@ss People Who Ever Lived
Reddit user BlackManBatmann asked: 'Who is the most bad@ss person to have ever lived?'
A bad@ss is defined as:
"a tough, uncompromising, or intimidating person."
The term is attributed to North America, dating back to 1809. But use remained fairly minimal throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
The term really took off at the beginning of the 21st century and continued a swift upward trajectory until the present.
Even though the widespread use of the term is relatively recent, the attitude and attributes of a bad@ss goes back to the beginning of human existence.
Reddit user BlackManBatmann asked:
"Who is the most bad@ss person to have ever lived?"
Grandparents
"My Grandpa Liberatus."
"Was working solo on his farm in the 1950’s, when both hands were sucked into an auger slicing them up right to the shoulders. Was able to kick the controls to reverse the blades and get himself out, then drove himself in a grainery truck 45 minutes to the hospital, steering and shifting gears with his knees."
"Doctors were able to save one arm above the elbow but none of the other."
"Still worked another 40 years with hooks for arms, fathered 9 children, 6 after his accident and harvested 1000 acres on a hundred year old family farm."
"Smoked like a chimney, drank like a fish, ate red meat 3 times a day, passed away in his sleep 2 days before his 99th birthday."
"He was a hard man, but absolutely devoted to his family and was a great Grandfather to over 20 grandkids. He taught me about resiliency, resourcefulness and mental toughness."
"Every grandkid, on their first birthday, got a rocking horse that he built in his workshop using hand tools that he built custom attachments for his prosthetics."
"I still have mine, from 56 years ago, as a reminder of him when times are tough."
"Grandma was named Elspeth and was a formidable woman in her own right. Raised a family of 11 in a two room farmhouse they lived in until the early 1960’s."
"She outlived Liberatus by 4 years and was always canning and preserving food. When we finally started clearing out their house after her death we found in excess of 10,000 jars of pickled and preserved food n her cellar."
"They were hard people, they had to be, but they were also in love right to the end."
"Married for almost 77 years I still remember them in the living room watching Hockey Night in Canada, holding hands on the couch. His arm around her, her gripping one of his hooks."
~ LOUDCO-HD
Giles Corey
"Giles 'more weight' Corey was pretty badass."
"Refused to testify at the Salem witch trials, so they 'pressed' him."
"They piled rocks on top of him as torture to force him to testify that his wife was a witch. They piled rock after rock on top of him."
"His last words were 'more weight', then he died."
~ epicmoe
Rotmistrz Witold Pilecki
"Rotmistrz Witold Pilecki."
"He purposely made himself be caught and thrown into Nazi death camp in Auschwitz to infiltrate it and organize underground resistance and do general recon."
"He then escaped with another prisoner to fight in Warsaw uprising."
~ IloveZaki
"Not just that, but immediately following the Warsaw Uprising, he was thrown into a German POW camp."
"After the war, he returned to his homeland of Poland, even with the knowledge he would likely be killed by the Polish Communist party for being loyal to the government-in-exile and he was in 1948."
"He had also co-founded the Polish Resistance."
~ designing-cats
Joe Medicine Crow
"Joe Medicine Crow, the last Warchief of the Crow."
"He completed all the ritual rights to become Warchief while fighting in WWII."
"Which included taking an enemies weapon, touching an enemy without killing him, leading a war party and stealing an enemies horse—he stole 50 from the SS."
"The war party came naturally and he got the disarm and the touch without killing at the same time but the horses was going to be challenging."
"They came across some SS holed up in a barn. They surrounded the barn and were waiting for dawn to attack, Joe convinced his CO to let him go and release the horses because they don't deserve to die."
"He snuck past the guard and opened up the whole corral and got onto a horse bareback and rode off with 50 horses while chanting a Crow war song. Meanwhile the Americans are mowing the platoon of SS down as they come out and try to stop Joe from riding off with their horses."
"The dude was a straight up f**king gangster."
~ RIPnts
Desmond Doss
"Private Desmond Doss (Hacksaw Ridge is the movie about his life)."
"He refused to use a gun but carried 75 men to safety including two of the wounded Japanese soldiers on the other side & used his medical knowledge to save their lives."
"He is the only conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor as awarded by President Harry S. Truman."
~ Redditor
"Hacksaw Ridge is missing a neat fact about him."
"At that battle he was wounded (I think 6 times but I'm not positive) but it was left out of the movie because it was felt to be too unbelievable."
~ Supraman83
Mary Vincent
"Mary Vincent."
"She had her arms amputated a serial killer, was left for dead in a drainage pipe, and somehow got herself to safety and survived."
"She was able to testify, but 14 years was the maximum penalty.
"She worked to get him put on death row after he was released early for good behavior and killed a mother of three in 1998."
~ kittengoesrawr
"She couldn’t afford to buy high-end prosthetic arms, so she created her own using parts from refrigerators and stereo systems, and she taught herself to draw and paint using her inventions."
"A depraved killer cut off her arms, and not only did he only get eight years, but the state couldn't even be bothered to pay for her prosthetic arms."
~ MrDownhillRacer
Galvarino
"Galvarino."
"He was a Mapuche warrior whose hands were amputated by Spanish conquistadors."
"His response?"
"He rigged blades to his wrist stumps and led a rebellion against the Spanish."
~ DontBuyAHorse
Vasily Aleksandrovich Arkhipov
"Vasily Arkhipov, the man who saved the world."
"He was a Soviet naval commander (brigade chief of staff) during the Cuban missile crisis who refused to launch a nuclear weapon.
"The ship he was on required three officers to be in agreement to fire the weapon, and only Arkhipov was against it, despite the potential career and personal repercussions."
"It's possibly apocryphal, but it's said that he swallowed his key so the weapon couldn't be fired unless he was cut open."
"Stanislav Petrov also saved the world from nuclear war in the 80's, and that should never be forgotten, but I'd argue that the stakes were higher for Arkhipov and the threat of nuclear war was much, much more imminent in the midst of a pissing battle between the Kennedy's and Khrushchev."
~ designing-cats
Raul Perez "Roy" Benavidez
"Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez, an Indigenous Yaqui and Mexican member of the Army Special Forces."
"On May 2, 1968, a 12-man Special Forces patrol with nine Montagnard (Indigenous Vietnamese) tribesmen, was surrounded by a North Vietnamese Army (NVA) infantry battalion of about 1,000 men."
"Benavidez heard the radio appeal for help and boarded a helicopter to respond. Armed only with a knife, he jumped from the helicopter carrying his medical bag and ran to help the trapped patrol."
"According to his Medal of Honor commendation, Benavidez 'distinguished himself by a series of daring and extremely valorous actions and because of his gallant choice to join voluntarily his comrades who were in critical straits, to expose himself constantly to withering enemy fire, and his refusal to be stopped despite numerous severe wounds, saved the lives of at least eight men'."
"During his Medal of Honor ceremony in 1981, President Ronald Reagan told the press, 'If the story of his heroism were a movie script, you would not believe it'."
"At one point in the battle an NVA soldier accosted him and stabbed him with his bayonet. Benavidez pulled it out, drew his own knife, killed him and kept going, leaving his knife in the NVA soldier's body."
"He later killed two more NVA soldiers with an AK-47 while providing cover fire for the people boarding the helicopter."
"After the battle, he was evacuated to the base camp, examined, and thought to be dead. As he was placed in a body bag among the other dead in body bags, he was suddenly recognized by a friend who called for help."
"A doctor came and examined him but believed Benavidez was dead. The doctor was about to zip up the body bag when Benavidez managed to spit in his face to show that he was alive."
"Benavidez had a total of 37 separate bullet, bayonet, and shrapnel wounds from the six-hour fight with the enemy battalion."
~ ComesInAnOldBox
But, there's more...
"His Medal of Honor isn’t even the craziest part. Let’s talk about his career before that."
"In 1965 he stepped on a landmine, and doctors said he would never walk again. He was so upset by this diagnosis that against doctors orders he secretly got up in the middle of the night and rehabilitated himself."
"Benavidez would crawl using his elbows and chin to a wall near his bedside and (with the encouragement of his fellow patients, many of whom were permanently paralyzed and/or missing limbs) he would prop himself against the wall and attempt to lift himself unaided, starting by wiggling his toes, then his feet, and then eventually (after several months of excruciating practice that, by his own admission, often left him in tears) pushing himself up the wall with his ankles and legs."
"After over a year of hospitalization, Benavidez walked out of the hospital in July 1966, with his wife at his side."
~ iamspartacus5339
Benavidez served in the Texas Army National Guard beginning in 1952 at age 17 during the Korean War until 1955 when he enlisted in active duty Army where he served until retiring in 1976 at age 41.
In retirement, Benavidez became a public speaker, volunteered for youth organizations and wrote three autobiographies: The Three Wars of Roy Benavidez, The Last Medal of Honor and Medal of Honor: A Vietnam Warrior's Story.
He died on November 29, 1998, at the age of 63. Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez was buried with full military honors at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.
There are some definite bad@sses in this list.
Who would you add?
"Easier said than done." The perfect way to encapsulate literally most things in life.
That stretches one leg further--easier began than finished. With the amount of courage it takes some of us to get up in the morning, it's a miracle society functions at all.
u/notouchmypeterson asked:
What takes more courage than people realize?
Here were some of the answers.
Helping Others
Intervening in a situation. 99% of people ignore fights, people getting hurt, or any situation where someone needs to stand up.
Self Worth
Took me four years to leave a job that treated me unfairly (the first nine were great, and I'm still friends with the boss I had during those years).
And what finally did it was standing up for my daughter being treated unfairly at her dance school, having been there for five years and being turned down for dance team in favor of girls who weren't as good as she was, one who wasn't even old enough to try out. I finally said "enough" and brought her to a more competitive (and unfortunately expensive) school where she is a valued member of the dance team, and I realized that it was easy for me to help her because I was on the outside of the situation and knew she deserved to be on that team. Had she sucked I would have accepted it and helped her get better or find something she was better suited for, but I did consult with her dance teacher - who had no say in the dance team - just in case I was too biased, and she confirmed that she was just as deserving as the kids who made it.
So I decided to step back and look at my situation from the outside, having as much confidence in myself as I did in my kid (while also consulting with my former boss just in case I was in the wrong) and say, "She can do better" and within two months I began a job that was less stressful, making almost $20k more than my base salary at the job I had been working at for thirteen years. Even my former employees say that I look much more relaxed and happy. And because of that dance school, which is further away, I have very little free time, yet I'm still happier. I didn't ever do things for myself because I was too scared, but teaching my child how to change things she finds unacceptable made me a better advocate for myself.
Life Life Life
Living the life you want to live. Society says we HAVE to do all these things by all these deadlines.
Fun fact: you don't. But fighting those societal norms isn't easy!
All Of Your Ducks In A Row
Learning to live and accept yourself.
Getting out of a toxic friendship or relationship.
Believing in yourself.
Standing up for yourself.
Not giving up.
Not being a sheep/follower.
Stability Vs. Control
Leaving a toxic/abusive relationship. Until you've been in one it's easy to think "Well if someone's mean to you/lays hands on you/cheats on you then you leave. No brainer." but it's so much harder than it seems. In my case it felt like unraveling my whole life. Admitting to people outside of my marriage what was actually happening felt like dying. As one of those "gifted" kids you've heard about, failure is the last thing you want to admit. Being made a fool of is the second to last. Leaving my marriage meant doing both.
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Change, even change for the better.
Even if given the means to escape the things that suck in your life, you'll find a way to re-manufacture the same bullshit that used to drive your blood pressure up, because that's what you're used to and The Unknown is scarier than that.
Deep down, most people are that horse that would run back into a burning barn, because the barn is home and there are people shouting outside.
Change.
Half Trying
Saying no and speaking against the opinion of a group.
I work in care, so I spend half my week doing team meetings. Most trouble starts because people will just nod in meetings while they are actually not in agreement. Then will then do the agreed job halfway or not at all, causing stuff to fail. At the next meeting nobody will admit to half-trying the job so you end up having the same discussion as the last meeting. Very tiring.
*Jaws Theme*
Swimming in the open ocean.
I'm an adrenaline junkie, ride motorcycles, jump out of planes, thrill rides, do rock climbing etc. but swimming in the open ocean where there's no bottom, unknown creatures lurking below... not easy.
A Risk To A New Life
Success. A lot of people won't embrace a risk because they are not only afraid of the negative outcome but also about the good one. And most of the times we are not aware about this fear and succumb to it out of low self-esteem and self sabotaging behavior.
Coming Out Of The Mental Health Closet
Saying that you have depression i guess. Or having depression and trying to 'move on' . I feel like people wont actually take it seriously in my opinion, cuz there are some cases that people would just say 'move on'. Sometimes its hard to explain, its worst if you have some type of anxiety too, like social anxiety.