Had you consciously made a decision to take a different path when confronting the proverbial fork in the road, you might have ended up in a place you could never come back from.
Or sometimes you have absolutely no control over the outcome of things, and it all boils down to being at the right time or place that in some cases literally determines a situation of life or death.
"What is a bullet you dodged?"
Love was in the air, until it wasn't
Safe Schnoz
"One time I dated this guy but we broke up. Which was fine. Later I find out during the bath salts phase he bit his girlfriend's nose off. I’m glad I wasn’t with him at the time or it would have been me."
– PricklyPanda75
Wanting Kids
"I dated this girl for a while. She was cool and like people do at some point, pretty early on she asks 'what age do you wanna be when you have kids?' I said 'ideally like my early to mid 30’s, I wanna have some nice one on one time just being married.'"
"She’d then say 'for me I could have them at any time, ya know ten years from now would be fine or this year would be fine.' I don’t think much of it, but she would ask me on a that question to me on a weekly bases and I kept giving her the same answer."
"The relationship lasted long enough where we were going to have sex soon and when we were talking about usual stuff like preferences etc I said that I wanted to use a condom and she didn’t want to show it, but I could tell this greatly bothered her. She kept saying stuff like it won’t feel as good and don’t you trust me and stuff like that. I didn’t trust her with all her comments about having kids. I wasn’t gonna do it without a condom."
"She broke up with me. She said it was because she’d met someone new, but I’m pretty sure me not budging on having kids at age 22 was a factor. Last I heard this new guy got her pregnant and her new boyfriend and her have both dropped out of college."
"I hope the best for them, but I’m sure am glad that it wasn’t me."
– Bigchonky3
These Redditors managed to avoid possible physical harm.
Stranger Danger
"I was maybe 7 yo, playing in my neighborhood, beautiful sunny day, within sight of my house. A car stopped, guy got out, asked for help, said I just had to put my foot on the brake so he could fix his car. He seemed like a nice man, and he started talking about how to hold the brake."
"I was focused on execution, if I could do it, and started to walk to his car. A neighbor yelled out their screen window, angrily asking what I was doing, told me to go home. I didn’t know why they were angry at me but I ran home, and the guy took off."
"It wasn’t until I was an ADULT that I even thought back on this and realized this was suspect. At the time didn’t even mention it to my parents, and neither did my neighbor. My naïveté was breathtaking."
– popcorn5555
Missed Shooting Spree
"Didn't stop at the 7/11 that I stop at everyday for coffee in the morning yesterday. About the same time I stop there a girl was shot and killed (employee at the store) when it was robbed."
– nryporter25
After The Robbery
"My mom always goes to places to do transactions in person. Like she goes to the doctor's office to make an appointment, she never orders stuff online. She also goes to the physical bank branch to deposit or get money."
"One day like ten years ago she gets to the bank and walks in."
"Everyone is just standing there, white as sheets."
"Someone had just walked out after robbing the bank."
"She probably crossed paths with the robber outside."
"Blows my mind."
– BaaBaaTurtle
Literally Speaking
"A literal bullet on a gun range. Cease fire was called and we went to change targets except one guy that shot at the target next to mine while I was downrange. Being shot at is not fun."
– foreverkasai
The Boston Marathon
"I decided not to go watch the finish line for the Boston marathon in 2013. I was only a few blocks away and decided to head into my dorm because the leaders had all finished at that point and I didn't feel it was worth it to go watch the rest. Less than 10 minutes later I started hearing sirens from my window and got a text from the girl I was dating at the time that they weren't letting her off the T at Copley for some reason."
"If I had just kept walking straight down Boylston like I had originally planned, I probably would have gotten there just as the bombs went off."
– mysistersacretin
These prospective homebuyers and business owners reluctantly moved on and wound up being grateful that they did.
Screwed Homebuyers
"Few years back when the wife and I were looking at buying houses... we had our hearts set on a certain home which, admittedly would have squeezed our budget too much. Although, we could pull it off."
"We ended up finding another more suitable and affordable home."
"We later learned that the owner of the home we wanted left with all the chattel and fixtures he wasn't supposed to, leaving the home buyers screwed. They initiated a lawsuit and suddenly within the next week, their car tires got slashed and someone attempted to set fire to their garage."
"yikes."
– Illfury
Sh*ts Creek
"There was a block of land on the edge of town we were very interested in. Large, in an historic area, has a creek running through it. Already approved for a new house."
"We made offers, but kept getting knocked back (the place had been on the market for nearly 3 years but he was holding out for magic number he had in his head)."
"In the end, we gave up and bought elsewhere. The property sold for less than the magic number. Six months later, we were hit with huge floods. Most of the property disappeared into the creek. So glad we dodged that one."
– peterdeg
Restaurant Takeover
"Not me, but my sister and her fiance:"
"They met working at a restaurant. He worked his way up from a bartender to manager, and she was a hostess when not teaching. After several years there, the owner let them know that he had terminal cancer and had like 6 months left to live. He didn't have anyone to pass the business down to, so he offered it to them. He asked for a very small payout so he could be comfortable in his last few months."
"While very grateful, my sister and her fiance checked things over, and determined that the building was going to need major repairs soon, and some other things were going to make it so they would not actually make money off of it for a while."
"They were in their mid 20's and pretty nervous about owning a business, much less a restaurant. So they ended up turning it down."
"That was February 2020..."
– Nik_Tesla
When Came A Storm
"Not me but my parents: My parents owned a rural property (a small for weekends and renting for events) from 1985 until 2016 when they sold it, after two years trying to sell. Just 3 weeks after they sold it, a massive storm destroyed the property giving the new owner a loss around 40% the price of the estate."
– raicorreia
When my company for a major theatrical production spent a few weeks in Mexico city, we were thrilled to go exploring on our days off.
But we were always cognizant of not drinking the water there.
We weren't thinking much about patronizing the food stands, however. When a group of us drifted along the beautiful, scenic waterways of Xochimilco, a vender on a barge passed by and offered us a variety of skewered meats, which smelled amazing.
But I knew my weak constitution that is not accustomed to eating from the local venders would not digest the food well, so even though I was famished, I passed.
My friends, did not. That night, every single one of them who patronized the vender got seriously ill from food poisoning.
It's a good thing our waterborne field trip was on our day off. Otherwise, a good fourth of our company would've been out of commission, and the show would've been canceled.
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"What was the most important random encounter you've had?"
People from the past were brought together by fate.
Creep Reunites Old Acquaintance
"I'm from London but have family in Ireland and used to spend all my summers there as a kid. Anyway, a few years back I'm stuck waiting for a night bus in another UK town at like 3am and there's one other girl waiting there and a creepy dude who keeps hitting on us. We basically start chatting to have an excuse to ignore him, and i notice she has an Irish accent. I ask what part of the country she's from and she answers with my family's home town. Turns out I played with her regularly when we were five and our grannies are BFFs. Neither of us had recognised each other or even knew the other was living there, just random chance."
The Girl Who Made Silly Faces
"While in college I did some photography work for the marketing department of a theme park. A tall, pretty girl in one of the shops made faces at me when I tried to take her picture. Several years later I went to a jewelry to store to get a battery for my watch and she was working behind the counter. I was glad I had a conversation starter because we hit it off right away and went out to lunch together. Been married 38 years now."
How They Became Best Friends
"First day of university in home country, know nobody in my course. Sit next to another guy in orientation, introduced ourselves, go to lectures together. Over the next few weeks we discover that our parents went to college together in the same home country 25 years previously (all four parents), his family had moved to the far east, mine to Europe. We had met when we were 1 year old and his family visited mine before our parents lost contact with each other. Then we had independently returned to the same home country, got into the same university, chosen the same course, and sat next to each other in a room of 300 people. Found a photo of us together aged 1. Now one of my best friends."
From The Same Hospital
"I moved to a new school in 11th grade and made friends with a girl in my English class. We realized our birthdays are only one day apart, and later discovered we were born in the same hospital. In college, she found a photo of herself in the hospital nursery and on the name tag on the bassinet next to hers you could see the last 4 letters of my last name."
These Redditors had poignant encounters with the elderly.
The Card
"I worked at CompUSA in Baton Rouge, LA. in their computer repair shop. It was sh*t. There were invisible 'sales goals' we had to meet, the team there was f'king creepy - they took every computer and first thing they did was look through your personal photos for nudes or stuff they could otherwise copy, take home. Gross. It sucked."
"A customer came to pick up his computer, and he was an older gentleman and his computer was comedically large so I offered to carry it to his car for him. When he opened the trunk of his car, there were architectural manuals and I mentioned I studied drafting. He gave me card, that led to a job, which led a year later to a completely different card, which led to a career."
"I don't carry his computer later, 20 years later there's a good chance I'm still in IT and still not great at it."
Sharing A Name
"I had never ever met anyone with the same name (as me) in 25 years."
"So I had this big surgery coming up, and the night before in hospital, I was super anxious. Completely random - I meet a 96 year old guy who has the same name as myself at the ward. He also had surgery the next morning. He wore a diaper, but were super super happy and nice."
"It felt very special to me at the time. It kinda felt like destiny, or that one of us wouldn't survive the next day. We both did tho, but it was still nice :)"
The Landlord With Horses
"My brother rented a house from an older guy. I went to visit my brother one day and he was telling me about his landlord and said if we ever wanted to go ride horses, we could go out to his place. He's had, somewhere around, 20-30 for the 10 years I've known him. Turned out to be one of my best friends. Helped me learn how to mechanic, how to ride junk horses, how to make good horses, how not to ruin good horses. All while specifically telling me you didn't have to be a bronc rider in order to be a cowboy. I've had some bad wrecks in the past and he helped me work through them. I'm a much better horseman now, and much better person in general I think. I never could've asked for a better friend. He's helped me with so much, while never asking me for anything in return. That's hard to find now a days."
"He's 61 and I know he won't live forever. And I'll cry more for him than I ever will my dad."
Coolest Stranger
"I was thirteen and riding the train back from Raleigh, practicing my German on duolingo. I was struggling a bit with some of the words. An old guy who looked like a bearded Morpheus, big old coat and all, heard me and corrected my pronunciation of 'zucker'. This turned into a conversation of how he was stationed in Germany in the 80's, used to sneak out with his buddies to do graffiti on the Berlin Wall with the locals, and was in the crowd the day it fell. He kept several chunks of it. Still one of the coolest strangers I've ever met. Felt like some movie sh*t."
Former Anti-Vaxxers Explain What Actually Made Them Change Their Mind | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Literal Coincidence
"I was sitting in Washington Sq. Park, reading a book, one that would change the course of my life, and an older man sat down on the bench beside me. He asked what was I was reading. I showed him the cover and he smiled and said 'I'm the author, Paul Rosenfels' and he extended his hand. His picture was on the back cover, and indeed it was Paul. The book was 'Homosexuality a Creative Process.'"
The small acts of kindness by these Redditors made lasting impacts.
Accidental Therapist
"Once I talked to a guy who was deeply confused about his next steps in life. We didn't know each other, we just started talking out of nowhere, can't remember the reason. He seemed really lost, but I pointed out that he talked about some solid strategies for his future and just didn't notice them. He was shocked and really happy with the new perspectives I could offer."
"Months later, he found me on instagram through a mutual friend and sent me a dm thanking me for listening to him and saying that he started therapy immediately after our conversation and got his life back on track because of me. He even has a thriving business now! We didn't keep talking, but I'm glad I helped a total stranger with just a few encouraging words. It was one of the nicest, most touching moments of my life."
The Man In The Wheelchair
"I went to help a disabled gentleman who had gotten his wheelchair wedged between his minivan and the parking lot curb. He was really nice and thanked me profusely. Later, I was reading and drinking coffee when he rolled over and thanked me again, and introduced me to his wife. We talked and realized that I had gone to school with his niece and that his wife knew my dad (Hawaii is a small place). Fast forward a few months and they asked me to house sit their place on the Big Island and take care of their pets while they went on vacation. It was the first time I left Oahu and the first time I lived alone. It was a really special time for me, a kind of formative moment in my life when I had time and space all to myself. Just really happy memories from those six weeks."
Things Will Get Better
"At age 18 i left my home at 2am in the middle of winter, wearing pyjama shorts and no shoes. I walked 30 minutes towards a motorway, stood on the side and waited for a car to drive past so i could jump in front of it. After a while of waiting i had collapsed from the cold and pretty sure i was slowly trying to drag myself into the road. A car obviously saw me from a distance, put their hazard lights on and pulled up on the side of the road where i was laid. It was an old woman and she dragged me into the car and drove me back home. I was heavily anorexic at the time so she gave me her cookies she kept in the car for her grandkids, and talked to me about what pushed me to suicide and told me things will get better. She dropped me at home after hugging me for a while and i cried until morning. I wish i had learnt the name of the woman who quite literally saved my life and picked me up as i was dying and i think of her all the time. Random acts of kindness can do more good than you realise."
A Promise Made, A Promise Kept
"I once got into a train with no ticket, since I couldn't find a terminal to buy one. But once the train arrived and the doors pulled open, I saw a ticket terminal inside. Unfortunately, I discovered that the terminal only accepted cash. And all I had was my debit credit card. I was perhabs 16, and was freaking out at the prospect of getting a fine, but it just didn't dawn on me that there were still places with 'cash only.'"
"A sweet lady got up from her seat, likely having seen me sweating bullets as I stood there with my credit card in hand. And said to me 'Yeah. It's cash only.'"
"She reached into her purse pulled out her wallet, and started rooting around in her change. She then gave me the equivalent to 10 dollars in Danish Kroner (DKK) and said 'Here's the money for a ticket. But! you have to promise me, that someday, when you encounter someone in need of money for a train ticket. You have to offer to pay it for them' I gratefully agreed, bougt my ticket, and kept that promise with me for about 10-12 years."
"Then one day I actually happened to be at a train station, where a teenage girl in front of me, got her card declined continously at the ticket terminal and I could see the frustration and embarresment build up inside her."
"I still cherish the memory, of actually being able to redeem my promise to that lady in Hundested. As I paid for the teenage girls ticket, and send her on her way with the same promise as I had made a decade prior."
An incredible chance encounter happened to my dad once when he was golfing in LA.
He struck up a conversation with another solo golfer and ended up hanging out and putting together on the fairway for the rest of the afternoon.
When my dad asked what this gentleman did for a living, he was told he used to be in a pop-rock group called The Monkees. Turns out my dad was talking to Micky Dolenz, the drummer of the band and one of the known heartthrobs of the group during the late 60s.
It doesn't end there. Micky inquired about my father's story, and my dad eventually mentioned I was living in New York and doing a Broadway show at the time as one of the dance captains.
Micky, with whom I happened to work and taught him the show when he came in as a replacement as one of the villainous roles, was shocked and referred to me by name.
They were both dumbfounded.
Cut to me inside a movie theater in NY on a Monday afternoon and getting a phone call. Seeing that it was from my dad, I picked up in case it was urgent.
Who I heard on the other end of Micky Dolenz, who dialed me up using my dad's phone. "So I'm golfing with your dad.." he said, and I can hear my dad laughing in the background.
That was a wonderful memory I'll never forget.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
u/WillyWonnka asked:
What was the biggest coincidence in history?
Here were some of those answers.
Locked In A Fig
GiphyIn 1938, a baby fell out of a 4th floor window and onto a man sweeping the street named Joseph Figlock. They were both injured, but survived. About one year later, the same baby fell out of the same window and was caught by Joseph Figlock.
Death Taxi
In 1974, a taxi in Bermuda struck a man named Erskine Lawrence Ebbin who was riding a moped, killing him. Exactly one year later, the man's brother, Neville, died while riding the very same moped...
...on the very same street...
...after being struck by a taxi...
...driven by the same driver...
...carrying the same passenger.
Damned Dam
The first man to die during the building of the Hoover Dam was J.G. Tierney, on December 20, 1922.
The final man to die during the project was Patrick W. Tierney, his son, in 1935...also on December 20.
D-Day
In the days leading up to the allied invasion of Normandy, a British newspaper's crossword puzzle solution words correlated with the code names related to the attack. Words like Omaha, Utah, and even Overlord and Neptune.
The coincidence scared British high command so much that they arrested and interrogated the crossword's creator.
Unfogging The Future
In 1898 a novella written by Morgan Robertson was published, it was a story about an "unsinkable" ocean liner named Titan which on a night of April was struck on its starboard side by an iceberg and was sunk in the North Atlantic, 400 nautical miles from Newfoundland. Fourteen years later it's 1912 and the "unsinkable" RMS Titanic departs from Southampton on its Maiden Voyage and is struck by an iceberg on the starboard side on the night of the 14th of April and sinks in the North Atlantic, 400 nautical miles from Newfoundland.
If you'd like to read more about it here is a wikipedia article with exact details.
She Used To Be Mine
American writer Anne Parish was in Paris at a bookstore and found a copy of an English language children's book, "Jack Frost and Other Stories." She hadn't seen a copy of it since she was a little girl and remembered it being her favorite so she bought the copy and went to meet her husband at a nearby cafe. She explained to her husband how much she had loved the nursery rhymes as a child and began to recite some of them from memory. As he was leafing through the book the pages turned to the inside cover and written on the inside it said "Anne Parish" And was followed by her childhood address.
Brutal Life Mirror
Edgar Allan Poe published just one novel: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, released in 1838. The novel tells of a doomed Antarctic journey in which four shipwrecked crewmen decide to eat cabin boy Richard Parker in order to survive.
In 1884, four crew members survived the ship wreckage of a vessel named the Mignonette. The survivors decided to eat their cabin boy in order to live. As fate would have it, that cabin boy's name was Richard Parker.
Invaders
When Soviet archaeologists opened the tomb of Tamerlane, one of Ghenghis Khan's descendants and a conqueror in his own right (founder of the Timurid Empire), an inscription inside the casket was found, which read, "Whomsoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I." Three days after the tomb was opened and the body removed, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union via Operation Barbarossa, the largest military invasion of all time. To add to that, Tamerlane was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad.
Plunging The World Into War
In Limburg, the Netherlands, there is a tradition of an old (fantasy) military style parade and Marksmen's competitions. Once a year all 150 or so guilds/association come together for one big festival which is called OLS (Old Limburgian Marksmen's festival). The winner gets to organize this festival to upcoming year. It is a big honor to win the marksmen's competition as it in groups of six and the marksmen have to hit every shot at a cubes as small as 0.5x0.5x0.5 cm at a distance of about 22m until there is only 1 team left.
One of the smallest townships (about 50 inhabitants) has won this competition twice. Once in 1914 and once in 1939. Twice it messed things up big time all over Europe. They have since disbanded their 'schutterij' to prevent WWIII.
The Lawless West
GiphyThe case of William and Will West who were identical to each other in physical appearance. They were, however, not at all related to each other. Apparently, one of them was a criminal and they arrested the other one which created a lot of confusion. Because of that, the idea of fingerprints was invented in 1892.