Life is a mystery full of mysteries.
Some we'll finally get, some will stay a conundrum forever.
Sometimes no matter how much we study or agonize over a piece of information, it just doesn't click.
But that's okay, we're all here to commiserate.
RedditorDangerous_Mobile9188 wanted to discuss what aspects of life still leave confusion.
"What do you genuinely not understand?"
Life is full of quandaries that I give up on trying to figure out.
Everywhere?
Emoji Corona GIF by BallcomGiphy"Why people can't use a public restroom without literally pooping all over the freaking toilet."
Natural-School5690
Around the grooves...
"How a single needle can run through the grooves on a record and produce a fully layered and 'separated' sound. I mean, I get how it works in theory. But like... how TF does it work?"
LandofRy
"I know how it works, and I understand how it works, and I was gleefully trying to convey this knowledge to a friend when I realized that I am not able to explain how it works, which essentially means that I don’t actually get how it works."
smelllikesmoke
Meow Team
"The thought process of a cat trying to jump on a shelf that is clearly filled with stuff and doesn't have space for it to land safely."
Mikrosarvinen
"The opposite, actually... how on earth does my cat jump on a shelf filled with stuff and somehow always land elegantly with all four paws between all the stuff without dropping a single thing? It surprises me every time."
WanderingArtichoke
"50% of cats have a 6th sense to avoid everything and 50% of cats are clumsy as hell. 100% of cats think they have the skill though."
KneeHumper
Clueless
"How consciousness works."
DarthDinDjarin
"I'm shocked no one has replied to this. Because yea. I haven't the slightest clue and i honestly don't think scientists know exactly how either. Such a complex system that turns into our thoughts and feelings, this is one of those things that REALLY made me appreciate the intricacies of our bodies."
r-Newbiedonthurtme
10/10
So Excited Reaction GIF by OriginalsGiphy"Every time my grandmother sees me, I seem to grow taller and more attractive."
JoeyMMuelle
I love grandmas. They understand everything.
S.O.S
Role Playing Reaction GIF by Hyper RPGGiphy"How people can raise a functioning family at the age of 18 or 19? I can't even hold my own life together."
Radioactivocalypse
Staying Put
"Squatter rights! They confuse the hell outta me."
roomtempcoff33
"Right! So you’re telling me, I can get evicted/foreclosed for missing some payments… but you can’t get rid of squatters who declare a house theirs ? I should just become a squatter then haha."
violet-ack
"Squatting is basically the same. It's not that they just get to live there, but the landlord has to use the proper legal mechanism (eviction) to get rid of them. And sometimes, that can take quite some time."
banality_of_ervil
"Steps"
"How crypto mining works... like what exactly are these huge setups doing and why do GPUs matter so much? I've read several articles about it and I still don't get it."
Tripper-Harrison
"This is an oversimplification, but they're trying to solve a math problem. If they get the answer, they get rewarded with crypto. But the math problem is very very hard. There's no 'steps' to find the answer, it's just guess and check."
"So you need to make as many guesses as possible to see if one of your guesses is right. And it just so happens that GPUs are very good at making these guesses. So if 1 GPU can make let's say 22,000 guesses every second, then two GPUs can make 44,000 guesses every second. 10 GPUs can make 220,000 guesses every second, and so on."
PierogiMachine
I'm Lost
"The wave-particle duality."
FishySwede
"This is the one man. For me this is the biggest mystery. Look, I don't care how the universe came to be. I mean I do, but this is much crazier to me. HOW DOES REALITY REACT DIFFERENTLY BASED ON OBSERVATION ALONE I sear this haunts me at night. Do i even exist man."
yungbandido
"Long story short, observing something at the quantum level is not as benign as observing, say, a runner on a racetrack. In observing something so small, the mere act of doing so affects the behavior/outcome. Imagine having to knock the aforementioned runner over in order to know where they are on the track. That's more or less how it was explained to me."
BaronMusclethorpe
Magic
Ross Mcelwee Photography GIF by FilmStruckGiphy"Cameras, I’ve been explained and seen explanations 100 times. It’s still magic to me."
Salty-Director538
Learning
"Willfull ignorance. Like, never in human history have we had the ability to find correct information so easily and so quickly. I love to Google things and research so I can learn new things every day."
"However, I occasionally encounter people who are proudly set in their incorrect thinking and don’t care to learn the truth about whatever subject at hand. It blows my mind… like, why are you comfortable being wrong and not learning new things? I legitimately don’t understand how someone doesn’t want to learn and improve their knowledge."
I_Like_Thanksgiving
Everyone Sees Me
"The obsession with trying to become famous for so many people."
Tsujigiriforbeer
"Honestly i struggled with this and my music for a long time. I realized over time and I’m sure it is the same for others but I think it’s just a human emotion to want to be adored and being famous can feel like an easy way of feeling constant admiration from others."
bitbbulldoggy
The Evil
"How have we not overthrown Ticketmaster?"
Moose-n-Skwerl
"We need to overthrow Live Nation, who owns Ticketmaster and many music festivals- including Astroworld. Live Nation is evil."
wehadbagels
"It's actually because they're funneling a lot of that money back to the artists but that way people hate live nation and not the artists."
yohannyong
The Machines
Giphy"Computers. Electrical signals allow what amounts to a bunch of glorified rocks to have rudimentary thought. It drives me insane."
wafflesnores
Ok. Whatever.
"Why people get mad when you question someone at work. Like dude, I’m just verifying info to cover my a**, I’m not questioning your competency. I pull wire sometimes and we had a 3 hour drive and needed 1000 feet. They guy that loaded it didn’t do the math to see exactly how much wire we needed and just guessed."
"It didn't look big enough and I asked him how he knew how much wire was on the spool. Dude got mad as hell, saying he knew what he was doing and that I was getting on his nerves. Ok whatever. Three hour drive later and guess what? 300!feet too short. Wasted basically 6 hours of driving and the entire day of work."
Cdchrono88
Pile On
"Where tire particles go. Millions of tires wear down but there’s no giant pile of them somewhere. It HAS to be somewhere as a collective entity."
Locating_Subset9
"I read an article a long time ago that said we eat or ingest a credit card a year worth of plastic per person. A substantial amount of that plastic comes from micro plastics in our water and food chain. A lot of that plastic comes from tires. Here's an article I just found with a search but it's not the article I remember. It's just similar and equAlly as troubling."
seanayates2
Opening Doors
"Master keys... especially for like schools and dorms. How do they open all the doors, but not every key works???!!"
Abject-Action43
"I was an RA in a dorm that had about 400 guys and girls in it. There were only 7 different keys issued to students. If they knew they could walk down the hall put their key in and open 1 in 7 doors, guys floor, girls floor, it didn’t matter."
just4funloving
"The locks have several configurations for the pins to unlock the tumbler. the key specific to the door and the master key. Master keys are just keys that unlock many doors!"
IceFire909
The Miserable
Will Smith Smh GIF by The Academy AwardsGiphy"Narcissists. They will never admit to any wrongdoing, constantly believe the world revolves around themselves, and the butterfly effects are that everybody else’s lives become miserable."
the_spiritual_eye
Maybe there are just somethings we're not meant to understand.
Many people roll their eyes at those who treat their dogs as if they were children.
Arguably, there is something to be said for people who think there's nothing wrong with bringing their dogs with them everywhere, oblivious to other people's allergies or fears.
That being said, dogs still need to be treated with love and respect, with some people surprised by the amount of care and effort even the tiniest dogs require.
Sadly, this doesn't stop them from adopting dogs, bringing them into a home where they will likely be neglected or mistreated.
Making the fact that these dog owners are unworthy of their canine companion's evidently apparent to everyone, except themselves.
Redditor PennedHitchhiker was curious to hear what people considered the tell-tale signs of an unqualified dog owner, leading them to ask:
"What screams 'I’m a bad dog owner?'"
"Friendly" can mean a whole lot of things...
"When they assume that just because their dog is friendly, it's ok for it to run at every dog they see even when the other dog is wearing a muzzle, on a lead or has anxiety or whatever warning notices on."- Thrillhouu
They Deserve A Safe And Comfortable Home
"Dog tied to a tree in an unkempt yard."
"Throw in a weathered doghouse too I guess."- dylan2451
No Roughhousing!
"If they let their kids beat up on their dogs, especially if they're little kids."
"No they're not 'just playing' the dogs are likely terrified and when they snap and attack the children, it's always 'he's never been a violent dog, I have no idea what's gotten into him suddenly!'"
"self-preservation, Susan."
"Even humans have that drive."- afinnegan2000
They Don't Bark For The Sake Of Barking!
"Leaving them outside and letting them bark for HOURS."
"Especially at night."- shebabbleslikeaidiot
Yes, Even The Cutest Puppies Misbehave
"When they make no effort to correct their dog's misbehavior."- InsomniacPHD
They Need Stability
"Asking you to watch their dog for 3 weeks then leaving you to watch them for 3 months."
"Still bitter about that towards my friend."- nouseforaspacebar
It's For Their Safety, As Much As Anyone Else's
"Letting your dog run around off lead around others when you have no ability to recall it."- Deskpoperator
"Letting them run loose."
"Repeatedly."
"I get it that some dogs are escape artists."
"I used to have one."
"I called my back yard Little Alcatraz."
"It was still rare that he got out."
"But damn, on the lost pets Facebook page, there are so many dogs out running, and people reply where the dog lives and it runs all the time."- cooper8828
Just Plain Rude!
"Leaving your dog’s sh*t on my front lawn!"
"F8ck you Linda!"- crumblingconscious
"Never picking up after their dog."- sunshinerose32
Know What You're Getting In For!
"Getting a dog simply because you want company, but not putting the effort on taking the responsibilities of a dog owner."- phantonyte
Neglect Is Hard To Hide
"Bad fur, watery eyes, poor muscle tone, cringes when approached."- Old-Dom42
What Is Wrong With Some People?!?!
"My mother’s neighbor bought an Australian Shepherd for her two sons who are in high school."
"Beautiful dog."
"Mind you, they live in an apartment complex with a fairly small backyard."
"From the day they got the dog, my mother has heard non-stop barking, complaints from the parent’s explaining how the kids don't feed or walk the dog."
'They obviously haven’t trained him either."
"We live in Chicago also."
'This dog does not belong in some apartment backyard.'
'Dogs in general NEED ample space to play and some training."
"Shortly after that, they got a kitten."
'They told my mother that they only want a kitten to get rid of the rats in the neighborhood."
'They made a 'bed' in the garage for him and gave him a water bowl."
'Now with it being winter, they still DO NOT let the kitten inside because guess what, the dog that they have doesn’t get along with him."
"Thankfully my mother has two lovely cats and she took him under her wing, feeds and houses him."
"SICK PEOPLE I SWEAR."- GravyOnEverythingg
"A Dog is for life, not just for Christmas."
Just as some people aren't meant to be parents, some people just aren't meant to be dog owners.
So before being overcome with their cute faces and affectionate demeanors, truly ask yourself if you have what it takes to give them the love and care they deserve before you bring them home.
Everyone keeps secrets from their families.
Most of the time, these are fairly trivial in the grand scheme of things, like accidentally breaking a window with a baseball but blaming it on a fallen branch, or claiming the dog ruined your mother's favorite pair of shoes when you actually wore them for a grand night out.
Some people, however, are better at keeping secrets than others, and often take these secrets with them to the grave.
In doing so, however, they still might leave behind a trail of breadcrumbs, which will leave their surviving family members with a slew of unanswered questions, which will likely remain unanswered.
Even if people will forever continue to do their best to solve what these clues actually mean.
"What's your family's unsolved mystery?"
Something Is Definitely Fishy...
"The day my father died from a car accident involving a boat trailer In the middle of nowhere out of state in 1991, my mom found a box with a Chinese medicine ball with a bell inside and a letter that said, 'I am sorry'."
"It was in our mailbox."
"She found it before she got the call that my father had died."
"The first autopsy on my father said there was a high blood alcohol content."
"My mom demanded a second autopsy, and there was no alcohol in him."
"She had seen him less than hour before he died and he hadn't been drinking that morning."
"My father was a third party candidate for state governor and published an independent newspaper talking about corrupt politicians and organizations."- neurotica_9000
Save Your Pennies...
"When my great-great-uncles house was to be torn down, they found old money hidden EVERYWHERE, even in the floor and the walls."
"Nobody knows where he had all that money from."- Imaginary_Town3642
Whatever Happened To Alice?
"In England around 1880 my 3x great grandmother received a letter from her daughter."
"She read it, threw it in the fire and said 'she’s made her bed, she’ll have to lie in it'.”
"My 2x ggmother never knew what happened to her sister Alice and later immigrated to the US."
"A couple years ago an unknown DNA relative from that branch reached out on Ancestry."
"She’s mixed race with Jamaican roots but doesn’t have clear written family records."
"I suspect that we’re connected through Alice."- EmmeryAnn
He's Out There Somewhere
"Who is my maternal grandfather?"
"The name on my mom's birth certificate is the guy my grandmother was married to at the time but military records show that he was out of the country when my mom would've been conceived."
"DNA also backs this up."
"Sadly, none of my close DNA matches will respond to me."- agreeingstorm9
Safe To Say, He Was Up To No Good
"What my great uncle got up to after he disappeared to Mexico in the early 80s."
"Great Uncle was a fairly unstable individual."
"Rough childhood, shipped off to Vietnam."
"Came back, got a wife and had a son."
"Got heavily involved with organized crime in the city my family is from."
"Became very abusive to his wife and my cousin."
"Wife takes cousin and leaves him."
"Great Uncle spends next several years chasing them."
"FBI eventually gets involved, and he just ups and disappears."
"We find out he had gone to Mexico when, 16 years later, my Grandmother gets a call from his daughter saying that he had passed away."
"The fact that he had apparently been not only alive the entire time, but had also started another family was a surprise."
"My cousin, despite everything, decided he should attend the funeral in Mexico."
"At the viewing, he tells us that two well dressed guys pull up in a Town Car, approach the casket, snap a quick picture of my deceased great uncle, and leave."
"Without having said a single word to anyone."
"We have a lot of questions."- Ok_Counter_4610
What They Don't Know, Won't Hurt Them...
"An intentionally unsolved one to make you laugh."
"When I was say 10 I hated cutting the grass, we had a brutally steep hill and it was never fun."
"Our lawn mower had gotten old and hard to start, so a brilliant kid idea came to me, sabotage!"
"Now I was no slacker here, I thought it through."
"I carefully pulled the starter cord out about halfway and frayed it so that it was just half cut."
"Then I went inside and told my Stepfather I could not start it."
'He naturally enough went outside to show me that I could and was just being lazy."
"The be fair I was but the cord lasted about three hard pulls before snapping, which led to the air turning blue from the cursing."
"This was apparently such a frustrating thing that we ended up with a brand new self-propelled, mower, a huge success."
"Fast forward 20 years and when this story was finally told by my sister it was not believed."
"He insisted that it broke because it was a pile of garbage, he was there after all! "
"I could only laugh at this."
"I think he believes to this day I could not have pulled that off."- bullwinkle8088
A Likely Story...
"What my grandfather actually did in the military."
"He said he was an accountant, that he wrote paychecks."
"But we also know for a fact he spoke Russian, was a crack shot with a rifle, to the point when I was in JROTC doing the shooting drills he warned me to miss a few times on purpose, because crack shots get made into snipers, and snipers don't live long, and we discovered after his death that 'was an accountant' is an extremely common cover story."- Edymnion
Her Own Fault For Leaving It Unattended
"Someone took a chunk out of aunt Eliza's pumpkin pie when nobody was around at our family thanksgiving back in 1994 and they still do not let the subject go to this day."
"Anyways It was me and I can never tell them."- blackmobius
Always Two Steps Ahead Of Everybody
"My Grandmother used to answer, old-school rotary, phones before they rang and there was always someone on the line."
"She would also tell us to go open the door for family and friends seconds to minutes before they were even in sight of the house."
"She was an extraordinary lady."- Poopybut58
Gone Without A Trace
"My great-grandfather was said to have up and disappeared one day."
"No signs of it beforehand, he was only 70 and still very active, was still involved in the business, and all of the extended family was living in the same area."
"Even more surprising was that in that small town where most people knew him, nobody even noticed him leave."
"My grandma still cries on his birthdays and on the anniversary of the day he disappeared."
"He was very well loved."
"This was way back in 1985, suburban India."- LiveInTheFlow
There is little more frustrating than not having closure.
Then again, there's a reason why "ignorance is bliss", leaving one to wonder if certain mysteries should remain unsolved.
Every new generation thinks they know best.
And every older generation thinks they've seen and done it all.
It's a neverending cycle.
So how do we make one generation listen to another?
And can the generation imparting important advice give it with ease and not arrogance?
Nobody wants to be disrespected.
Can we all start there?
Redditor baker10923 wanted hear what information the young people want the old people to stop yelling about, so they asked:
"Younger people of reddit. What are you tired of hearing from older generations?"
I'm tired of hearing about the music. Madonna is music.
I will say these kids today though... THAT'S MUSIC?!
We Know Best
Clap Magenta GIF by Telekom erlebenGiphy“I have more life experience than you… 'then proceeds to go on an emotionally stunted rant based on their own personal bias due to trauma they refuse to process because 'they know best.'"
Sorry, Deborah,
"Literally any and all job advice. Sorry, Deborah, but you've worked the same unionized position for 30+ years. The number of valuable insights you can give me about the modern labor landscape numbers somewhere between diddly and squat. And Hank literally drops the 'walk downtown handing out resumes and shaking hands" line without awareness or irony.'"
spehizle
What we went through
"My mom and I got into a fight over housing affordability. 'Your father (55)and I (53) worked very hard to afford this house (175k) and you make more than we did at the time we bought (1992).'"
"The house now is worth about 1.5m, my mom didn't work and my dad made 100k/year. I make 150k and houses in my price range are 600k 1hr+ away from where I want to be and less than half size with less than half the lot."
x-Sleepy
The Pain
"Anything to the effect of 'young people can't have back pain (or any other physical disability).' Like, dude, I wish being in my twenties made me immune to being injured. But that's literally just not how the human body works."
dumbest_thotticus
"Yup. In my 20s also and I have severe back and neck pain from a car accident. Any time I mention that Im hurting (which is all the time but I only say something when its so bad I cant move) I'm dramatic or too young to know real pain."
Zero_Pumpkins
I'm Them
Aging Jamie Lee Curtis GIFGiphy"I am 44 but I still feel like I am young. I am tired of hearing pretty much everything my generation says. I don't understand when everybody else just suddenly morphed into their parents."
Hattkake
Oh the generations, always the drama.
Awful
New Girl Facepalm GIF by HULUGiphy"They're so judgemental and rude. I'm a restaurant worker and I swear young people are way more polite and easy going while older people have zero patience (even though they're the ones who are already retired), oftentimes make racist, sexist, homophobic and bodyshaming comments and still act like they're above the younger generation simply because they've been alive for longer."
dreamingofhogwarts
29 and Up
"As a 29 year old, tired of older people telling me I’ll understand joint pain, tiredness when I’m older. I’m disabled and chronically ill. I have had bad joints since birth. Like it’s great that all your health problems are a result of your age but mine have been around and will worsen because of that."
supermeg77
blah blah blah...
"(34) I'm sick of hearing about how young people just spend all their time on Tik Tok. How they have stupid dances. How they're just staring at screens all day, blah blah blah."
"Yes, they do all that stuff, but we had stupid dances when we were younger. We sat in front of the TV all day. I've yet to see someone with square eyes."
"Also, hearing about how kids/young people today have no respect for their elders. MF's were doing the same sh*t that people today are doing now. The difference is, everyone has a camera in their pocket."
ocelotrevs
Work Days
"'No one wants to work anymore.'"
"First of all no one ever wanted to work. That's why it's called, 'work,' and not 'fun.'"
"Second of all, maybe it's that no one wants to work at your job that lists itself as entry level but wants 5 years of experience and a master's degree along with being able to work 12 hour days at minimum wage."
GodOfAtheism
Basics
Listen Mothers Day GIF by Cartoon HangoverGiphy"Go to school, get a job, get married, have kids, retire, then die..."
Misfits9119
How will we bridge this gap?
One only knows.
People Who Were Forced To Choose Between Their Pet And Their Partner Explain What Happened
Our pets are part of the family.
Any person who doesn't get that is not someone I can know.
They are there through it all.
They help with the good, the bad and the ugly.
So when it comes to choosing between a pet and a person... the answer can make things awkward.
Redditor sugar-soad wanted to know how everyone would choose between a lover and a fur baby, so they asked:
"People who were made to choose between your pet or your partner, how did your ex react when you chose your pet?"
One of my exes wanted me to return my dog to the pound.
Notice I said... EX?
The love
cat dog GIFGiphy"It really baffles me how some people don't understand how much a pet can mean to someone, I remember one of my dogs dying overnight before a school day at secondary school and my teacher mouthed off to the class about me taking a day off for a pet's death."
ff-at-15
The Kicker
"This was a long time ago but I just started dating this person and I was told they hated my dog, it was a bit of a shock but I was like no biggie just get to know my dog and you will fall in love with him."
"So the next time, we had a doggie date and HE TRIED TO KICK MY DOG. I literally grabbed my dog and turned around and walked away. And that was that!!!"
clarkyto
Screw This
"This is my favorite story from when I worked in a shelter. A guy came in to surrender his cat, with the reason that his girlfriend didn't like her. He starts filling out the paperwork, but partway through he just stops and says, 'Screw this. I'm just going to break up with her instead.' He picks up the cat and walks out the door, presumably to leave his GF. I hope he stuck to it and he and his cat got a happy ending."
hoomphree
Happy Ending
"Not directly relevant, but we once took in a dog, whose human was asked to make this choice. Beautiful weimaraner. The guy brought the dog out to our house (on a hill in the woods with acres to roam - dogs absolutely love it out here - and we spent some time walking around letting the dog get used to the place and meet our other furry residents."
"We could tell it was really hard on both of them when he left."
"The next day he kicked the woman out, and came back for the dog. Happy ending all around, I'd say."
Wildcatb
Momentos
Dog What GIF by Best Friends Animal SocietyGiphy"Not my story but my friend. His GF forced him to choose between her or dog but that dog was remaining memento from his deceased mother and of course he instantly dumped his GF. His GF went from facefull with expectations to beet red full of shame and anger and smashed his house windows when she left his house."
Manfroo1
Never asked for someone to make choice between a person and a pet.
Living Longer
Cats Reaction GIF by TikTok MENAGiphy"I remember him saying my diabetic cat needed to go so he could get a dog. We weren't even living together. I looked him dead in the eyes and said. 'My cat will outlive this relationship' considering she was really sick at the time he said it was unlikely and stormed off. We broke up 6 years ago and my cat is still going strong."
buffalosansbuffalo
The Elderly
"I have an elderly rat (going on four years, which is quite the feat for a rat). I’ve raised him since he was a baby with his brother, who passed away two winters ago. When we moved in with my in-laws over the summer, they didn’t want me to bring my rat. I straight up told my partner that I’ll live somewhere else for awhile (we’d been living together for almost three years at that point) because my rat is my responsibility."
"He’s very old, and that I was going to see him through to the end. They were a little upset and accused me of choosing the rat over them, but I explained that he’s an animal that relies on us. It worked out, I convinced my in-laws to let me bring him, and we’re all still kickin. He’s on his last days and I’m glad I’m here with him. He’ll be buried with his brother when it’s time."
queerqunari
Meow First
"She acted like she'd never even considered I'd choose the cat over her. I don't think that thought had ever entered her mind. Then she went into a big spiel about how I'm a loser, I'm missing out, there's only one of her, etc etc. Yeah, I knew all that when I put my foot down over her idiotic jealousy of the cat liking me more than her."
"The cat is now 16 and still with me, happy in her senior years. There's been other women since her, ones that treated me a lot better than she did. It was a total win for both the cat and myself."
Fancy_Cassowary
“Dirty fleabag”
"Not me but my sister choose our cat over her boyfriend of 4 months. He was furious when she dumped him and called her an idiot for picking a 'dirty fleabag' over him. Cat was not a dirty fleabag, he just hated pets and wanted to try to control my sister. I was relieved when she dumped him. I never got good vibes from him."
Aurora_Jones
BYE
White Dog GIFGiphy"My ex asked me if she thought my dog liked me or her more and I said me. She got genuinely mad and told me I am supposed to just lie to her, didn't last long."
wumbology34
Pets will always win.
Have you ever had to make a similar choice? Let us know in the comments below.