Life is lived by spending money. That is the way we have created our lives, and now that is the way we must live them.
You have to spend money on everything.
For housing, for food, for transportation.
It is literally impossible to live without it.
Sometimes it can feel like we're drowning in bills only to have an unforeseen expense crop up and do far more damage.
Redditor PhantomBaka asked:
"Whats criminally overpriced to you?"
Here were some of those answers.
Twenty Eight Dollar Salad
"F**king salads. Man it's so frustrating, sometimes I just want something light and it costs me more than 6 hamburgers."-toddmflong
"I just ate at a restaurant this evening that offered a Caesar salad for $15. The chicken was $6 extra."-A_Very_Living_Me
Seems Important
"Epi-Pens. This, a thousand times this. I have 4 kids, each needed pens for school, and they couldn't share of course, and pens only came in sets of two."
"So a single $35 pen turned into $3200 because pens were $400 each, and each had to be bought in pairs, and I had to have a specific prescription for each kid. F**king stupid."
"Got the doctor to prescribe a vial of epi and a filter needle (glass vials need filter needles) and the single script cost about $16. Gave to the school nurse. Done. Oh, and the vial didn't 'expire' in 1 year."-ericzhill
Noms Will Break You
"Concessions at sporting events in the US. Our taxes pay for the stadiums. Then the public has to buy tickets to get in. Then when we finally get inside, they are gonna charge $14 for a $3 beer."-ArminTanz
"I remember a coworker told me a story of a baseball game he went to. After buying tickets and beer/food, they sat down and it started to rain."
"It was raining too bad to keep going so they called the game. He said that was $50 down the drain."-superzenki
Are you seeing things here that you immediately roll your eyes at?
Can't Get Out Easy
"Death. Even with no funeral/service/etc - there will be a cost for cremation, burial, etc that your next of kin will need to deal with/pay for. Your will needs to state what you want done, and plans made to fund it."
"My dad passed away earlier this year, and even with no funeral, service, etc (per his request) I still had to pay over $3000 just days after he passed to have his body dealt with, and another $600 for someone to dig a hole at the pre-purchased cemetery plot."
"(His requests were similar to my mom’s when she passed away about 7 years ago, so I wasn’t surprised by the cost - but it’s definitely difficult to put so much money into basic post-death/funeral care.)"-whiteink-13
D'uhhmerican Insurance
"For a family of four it can cost you $1,400 a month to HAVE THE PRIVILEGE of paying the first $12,000 of all your medical bills YOURSELF before insurance kicks in and covers 70-80%. Like, WTF…"
"Doing the math: you pay $28,800 per year BEFORE insurance kicks in…"-CURCANCHA
The Biggest Scam
"Texas Instruments Calculators. Honestly. You have all the necessary software available for you as free or at worst cheap apps on any smartphone."
"I understand you cannot obviously use your phone on exams, but at intro levels, you want to know the graphs of the simpler functions, at least in the appropriate bounds."
"In more advanced levels, the kind of assessment that requires you to use a graphing calculator could easily be done differently, resorting to a computer or a phone."
"The technology might be amazing, but I haven't used my graphing calculator since high school, and I do lots of maths on the daily."-FroggyWatcher
I Just Wanna Play WoW
"Graphics cards is the reason why I bought my first prebuilt. I have always built my own computers, because traditionally it was cheaper for better parts, and it was usually easier to swap out parts if something failed."
"This past year I tried to upgrade my computer as it was finally starting to struggle with new games. After a few weeks experiencing the graphic card sh*tshow, I finally just went ahead and bought a whole pre-built via Costco that had a 3080."
"It was more money than I wanted to pay and the computer is way beefier than what I needed, but after seeing scalper prices and realizing I’ll probably be spending who knows how many months playing the graphic card lottery, I actually feel like I came out ahead."-kamikaze_puppy
The worst part of spending all this money is there's no way to STOP spending it.
Kontakte
"College textbooks - They can cost hundreds of dollars, and professors will publish new ones all the time to force students to get the newest version instead of reusing an older one."-terminat323
"I’m just finished an online program and bought all of the books since I was responsible for teaching myself the material. I went onto my college’s bookstore site and tried to have them buy the books back that I didn’t want."
"They offered 15$ for a textbook over 150$. 15 f**king dollars."-emmma9321
Trauma Often Equals No Money For Therapy
"I tried to get a trauma therapist recently and the one I was recommended charges $200 an hour and doesn’t accept insurance. That in itself is traumatic."
"While we’re here, two things I can recommend from someone who has been in the system for 16+ years and just recently received a correct diagnosis of narcolepsy."
"-Advocate for and get a medical work up if you can before attending therapy. Even if your PCP or psychiatrist just tries to send you to therapy without any testing, keep fighting for it, especially if you have chronic symptoms like depression."
"Many symptoms related to underlying medical conditions can mimic psychiatric conditions. It’s really dangerous to sit in therapy for years without adequate medical testing to make sure you don’t need medical treatment first."
"Also, don’t take meds from a psychiatrist who doesn’t order labs first or gives you a hard time about ordering labs or a sleep study."
"The best psychiatrists should ask for these right away and help you advocate getting them. Out of the long list of doctors I have worked with, only one ordered a sleep study and labs. And she saved my life.
"-For those who have had terrible experiences within therapy, check out the Very Bad Therapy podcast. It’s a podcast that gives a platform to those who have been harmed by therapists and different therapeutic models. It helped me to not feel so alone."-ThisNerdyGirl
The "No Calorie" Diet
"It costs money to be poor. God I hated being poor so much. My old boss asked me if I was working out since I had lost like 15 pounds but the reality of it was I couldn’t afford food."
"We had snacks in the office that accounted for probably 75% of my daily caloric intake. I was going further and further into debt just to keep the bills paid, and for many months could only make the minimum payment on my credit card so the interest was also killing me."
"So glad I’m in a better, debt free position now and have the ability to help out those less fortunate than myself."-FILTER_OUT_T_D
These things are things we have to live with in order to survive, but the truth is, there might be a better way.
As we all navigate these things, and how to stay on top of an ever-more-expensive world, the best thing we can do is rely on each other for tips and tricks on how to make this mess of a life just that much more easy.
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Unfortunately, we as people are capable of doing some pretty awful things. Worst of all, we are capable of doing said awful things to each other--to other humans, whose suffering we understand above all else.
The drive behind these things is unclear, variable, and sometimes totally absent. But hurt people hurt people. It's as simple as that, and sometimes, we are the unfortunate receptor of that hurt.
Redditor Tomato_Shelf asked:
"Whats the worst thing someone has ever done to you?"
Here were some of those answers.
Christmastime
"My parents divorced when I was 7 (my father had an affair), my father remarried and got a new family, my mother remained single and bitter (she still loved him)."
"They always used to argue about whose turn it was to have me, they were trying to spite each other but the only thing that actually happened was that I realised neither of them must of loved me."
"One Christmas Eve when I was 14 they were having the same argument, my dad and his new family were staying in a hotel and told my mum they hadn’t booked a room for me, I walked to my mums and she said it was my dads turn to have me and locked me out."
"I slept in a car park fire hose (it didn’t actually have a fire hose in it). I was so scared and cold (skinny kid) I knew I couldn’t ask my friends to stay because it was Christmas Eve and already close to midnight by this point, I started to cry when the snow started falling at about 3am."
"I wish I had known back then that I could have just called the police but my juvenile brain didn’t know that, I went to live in a children’s home shortly after that and honestly I loved it, I still think of my key worker like my dad, he was great."-ILoveMyCatsSoMuch
Dad Needs Therapy
"Was early high school. Joking around with my father, horrid temper, switch flipped with him."
"He chased me down the hallway, thought we even playing till he pinned me down, hand around my throat strangling me till I passed out."
"Burst blood vessels in my eyes. Had to wear sunglasses for a good week to hide em while at work or elsewhere."-MisterJ33
Bamboozled By Family
"My 60 year old mother in law wanted to sign her house over to us because she has no retirement and no money saved. My wife was pregnant with our second child and she told us she wanted to be a stay at home grandma."
"I would be coming in and paying for everything. So we sold our house, paid off our debt, and cut a check for 54,000.00 dollars to her ex husband, which paid off the house in full."
"Then I made 10,000.00 dollars worth of home repairs. All bills were transferred in my name. When it came to sign the deal, suddenly she didn't want to do it. Told us she wanted things to go back to the way they were."
"My father in law told her well then we need to take out a home equity loan to give then their money back. She refused. The next week she served us an eviction notice and moved her boyfriend she claimed was abusive to her back in 2 days later."
"She threw her own daughter, my 3 year old, and my 3 month old baby on the streets. We tried to reason with her and then she had her lawyer threaten us with a restraining order."
"So now I'm suing her for my money back. Luckily my father in law is on our side and we were able to stay with him for the time being."-BananaSmoothie95
These stories really make you want to trust nobody.
She's The Ex For A Reason
"My ex wife made me believe I was making up all the proof that she was having an affair.. for a couple years."
"I went through therapy and anger management, accepted that I was just a f**ked up person and should have never disrespected my loving wife by accusing her of such things. She pushed all the help on me, praised me, etc."
"Two weeks after we divorced, she cheated on the guy she was dating(another affair dude) with me and admitted to everything. I kicked her out my house immediately."-elagentink
Black Widower
"My stepdad stole two houses, two cars, a scooter and a boat from us when my mother died. He then proceeded to commit perjury and tell the judge that he was broke because he paid me and my sister 60,000 each."
"This got him out of a loan that he had from my aunt, who loaned my mother hundreds of thousands of euro's so she could buy a house."
"Basically he did so much acrobatics that i didn't even get my own bed or clothes back, and he ended up with everything that could remotely be stamped as my mother's property."
"Overall, the worth of everything he stole (not just from my side of the family, but his EX WIFE that he got back to later) is upwards of half a million."
"His wife then ALSO DIES and he takes whatever's left. My lawyer told me i couldn't do anything since now two wives of his died in a three year span and there was no way a judge would look at him and say he owes anyone anything."
"Honestly i think he married my mom and then killed her. The same with his then-ex-but-current-after wife who also died rather quickly."-Toasted_pinapple
The Worst Kind Of Feeling
"Freshman year of college i met a girl and we became best friends. We did everything together. Then one day in class she told me she didn't want to talk she wanted to read. Thats was fine of course. She did that two more days."
"The fourth day she moved her seat from next to me to across the room. I tried to get her attention to talk but she avoided me. Next week we both happened to be washing our hands in the bathroom together."
"I said hi. She acted like i never existed. Soon she left the college. I went to grad school 3 years later (somewhere 2 hrs away) and lo and behold she was in my class."
"We were assigned the same group for a project. She looked uncomfortable and the next time class met, i found that she had dropped it. I never saw her again."
"It hurt me deeply because I had no clue why she did this. We didn't fight. Im not manipulative or catty or anything. This wasn't the worst thing to happen but it definitely ranked up there."-ghostiesontoasties
It reminds you to be thankful of the people you DO still keep around, and reminds you there's probably a reason you have.
The Family Is Often More Worth It
"Dated a woman for a time and eventually got involved with her teen kids and acted in a step parent role for years. Invested tons of my time, energy, and resources into them as a family."
"Then my GF went into a spell of depression and didn't want to do anything or talk about anything. Life went on around her, then when she saw me spending time with the kids instead of sitting on the couch doing and saying nothing like her, she became pathologically jealous and started accusing me of 'having too much interest in young girls.'"
"I spend a LONG time trying to fix and salvage the situation as I felt we were all bonded together as a family. Paid out of pocket for counseling for us, and for her exclusively for a long time after the therapist determined the focus of the problem was not me."
"She NEVER accepted responsibility for her claim and the effects it had. Thought she could just casually dismiss it at will, like she'd claimed I left the toilet seat up one time; thought I was making a 'big deal' out of everything."
"She never spent a second addressing the childhood traumas that openly affected her whenever there was a pinch, even invoking them as an excuse for acting how she did, then pretending they were fixed or nonexistent the 99% of the time she did NOT need to use them to manipulate the situation at hand."
"Finally had to walk away from the situation. Started dating someone else (who was a college debate coach with a PhD in English, night and day communication and interaction styles!) and she acted like 'I abandoned her,' even cheated when I made good on my promise to leave without effort on her part."
"Now a long time later I still hear from one of the boys who is now in his 30s and just had a baby. At least 2 of my exes grown children don't even talk to her at this point. I never tried to assemble a family again, but have had a VERY fulfilling love life since."-MentORPHEUS
Elementary Betrayal
"The girl I had a crush on when I was 8 only pretended to be my friend because she wanted to get embarrassing secrets out of me."
"She then spread them around and became one of the popular girls and I was horrendously bullied for years to come. Worst thing is we had after-school English in middle school together again and she was like 'hey why do you not talk to me' etc.."
"The b*tch made a solid quarter of my life hell and just forgot about it. I'm scarred for life and she will never remember it let alone feel bad about it."-New_General_6287
Shedding Old To Make Space For New
"The beginning of my junior year of high school I had a friend group that I shared a lot of good times with in years past. There were four guys (including me) and three girls, and we did nearly everything together. Toward the end of the year, they began to cut me off and hang out without me, lying about it, and overall just flat out excluding me."
"The whole while I was being told that nothing was wrong and I hadn’t done anything for this kind of treatment to occur, it was just scheduling conflicts or whatever. Nevertheless, I would continue to make attempts to organize things together, but was always ignored or given a lie."
"The final straw came after the end of that school year. I had always wanted to organize a float trip for the seven of us but there was never much interest from anyone else. Sure enough, a few weeks into summer before my senior year there were posts from the six of them on a float trip."
"I was so hurt to this point already that I finally cut myself off from continuing to ask and wonder why I was being disposed of. The way they treated me ate away at my mental health through the summer and into my senior year. I’d see some of them in class and they still would attempt to be chummy, but I reciprocated only enough to be cordial."
"I carried the weight of having my closest friends all up and abandon me with no reason for many years, and I attribute their mistreatment of me to many of the mental health and self-worth issues I still struggle with to this day."
"I still do see the occasional photo of all them together, and they were back in my hometown for the holidays at the same time as me, but thankfully I no longer yearn to be included nor do I expect an apology."
"They were/are incapable of seeing any wrongdoing on their part. It took me a bit to realize how narcissistic a good portion of them were, and the others were too timid to speak out against anything. I have a fantastic group of friends around me now that treat me thousands of times better than they ever did."-logan95
The only common thread through all of these misfortunes is that each of these people is here, afterward, to tell the tale.
That doesn't always happen--and when it does, it's very valuable to be able to see the thing that may have deeply affected you happened to someone else, too.
Hardly any human is ever, if at all, alone. And ultimately that makes up the defining piece of our human experience.
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Sometimes it's time to stop the world for a few minutes, relax, and unwind. Slip into a warm bath or have a nice glass of wine on the side to really drive that comfort and relaxation home.
We work ourselves to death most days without any acknowledgment for the absolute limit to which we are pushing our bodies. With the world constantly swirling around us as this happens, it can feel a little like there is no respite.
That's why we need to learn things that really comfort us. About the world, about other people, whatever. We need some comfort to take so that we can bring some stillness into our crazy world.
Redditor lofisky asked:
"What are some very comforting facts?"
Here were some of those answers.
Thanks For Not Hating Me
"That dogs usually understand that you stepping on their tail is an accident."-CyanBlue78
"I hope so, since they’re always underfoot when cooking."
"Our prior dog was a chihuahua who lived to be 16, and no matter how many times he got stepped on would still stay underfoot when cooking."
"He must have figured the benefit of getting a scrap of food that wasn’t a vegetable was worth the risk."-EmperorPenguinNJ
Oh Well The Country Will Survive, So *Phew*
"Scientists highly doubt that yellowstone will ever have another supereruption. In fact, it's unclear if it even has enough magma beneath its caldera to erupt again at all, let alone have a supereruption."-thecyriousone
"That's good to know because this was a weird fear of mine as a kid, despite living no where close to Yellowstone and having never visited it."-BlackbirdKnowsAll
Use What Ya Got
"Sesame Street writes real life events into their plot lines a lot. For example when one of the actors died, they killed off his character and had an episode to teach kids about grief."
"One of the child actresses quit so she could go to college, and they had her character do the same and had a going away party for her on the show itself. It’s kind of heartwarming."
"Also Sesame Street has been on air for so long that there was an episode about that character’s mom being pregnant. The actress’s childhood was basically a wholesome version of the Truman Show."-Savitribaii
Do you already feel some of the tension beginning to lift out of your body?
Squeak~
"A study with rats showed that empathy is a shared trait among mammals. When two rats were tested with one being stuck in a plastic trap, the other rat usually became distressed and freed it really quickly."
"'The rescuers did not seem to have an ulterior motive for freeing their trapped cage-mate: they continued to do so even when the experimental set-up was changed so that the two rats would not be able to benefit from touching and interacting after the liberation.'"
"'Moreover, the plaintive calls of the trapped rat were too infrequent to suggest that the free rat acted simply to get some peace and quiet.'"
"They also did another test where the rat could choose between chocolate or freeing their trapped companion, they would free the trapped rat AND share some of the chocolate with them."
"'Most surprisingly, says Bartal, although the liberator could choose to eat all the chocolate before freeing their cage-mate, they were more likely to share.'"
"'“They were very generous. It is really impressive for rats,” says Bartal. “It would be impressive for people too.”'"
"Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21256-rats-..."-beepborpimajorp
Great Now Let's Get Rid Of It
"In 1820, 94% of the world's population lived in extreme poverty. In 1990, 34.8%, and in 2015, just 9.6%. Within the last 100 years we've almost eradicated extreme poverty."
"Absolutely insane to think how long humans have lived on this planet and just how far we've come in the last 100 years."-PainAndAbel
Dyin' Ain't So Bad
"I’m sure it varies by person, but I went into brief cardiac arrest, and it was similar to falling asleep. When I came to, it was more 'that was it?' than anything."
"I did make some pretty significant changes in diet and exercise afterward. I even lost about 40 lbs! But the truth is there wasn’t any of the grand catharsis you see in movies."
"Even though I gained a change in perspective, there was no instant improvement in character or huge jump in maturity. It was more of a nudge in the right direction rather than a shove into the light."
"The experience is much more mundane than you’d think, but that’s the reason I believe it was so impactful. I didn’t stress about work as much."
"I didn’t worry about how people perceived me as much. Because I saw how it all ends, and it’s nothing to lose sleep over. So now after 2 years of progress, I don’t really lose sleep over anything. It’s nice."-FrostedBanner
Made Of Starstuff
"You are entirely composed of things that were forged in the bellies of long dead stars. It took billions of years to make the basic blocks from which you are built."
"You are not a passenger in this great universe, you are a reflection of its awesome, immeasurable, infinite possibilities."-The_Squiggy
A sigh of relief is already forming in your guts as you read each fact.
Ignorance And Want
"Overall, we humans are living in the most peaceful, most advanced, most rich world we have ever known."
"Of course there are pockets of violence, ignorance and want. The rest of us can use our gifts to help those in need. Don't give in to the merchants of despair."-Mokurai
The Strangest 'Wrong Number' Stories | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Before we all had caller ID, wrong numbers phone calls were commonplace. But now that almost everyone screens their calls, it's wrong number texts that have ...More Positivity Needed
"Data has shown that, statistically speaking, crime is trending down. Studies have also shown that negative events stick out more to the human psyche because, evolutionarily speaking, that can help you survive."
"Sure, remembering the cute butterflies 50k years ago might have been pleasant to your ancestors. But is as useful as remembering that their friend got eaten by a bear that lived near that butterfly?"
"So while the world seems like it’s going to sh*t, that’s only because evolution has crafted your brain to remember negative events more prominently."
"And because of the rise of the 24/7, worldwide news cycle that brings you all of the terrible things happening across the planet in nearly real-time. The world is slowly but surely improving, little by little and day by day."-modsareflaccid
Fishcadian Rhythm
"My pet fish have a bedtime. To further explain, fish, like most animals, have a circadian rhythm. This means they generally need to sleep and be awake at around the same times every day."
"I see this quite easily in my fish tank because when I turn the lights off in the tank and room then come back 30 minutes later, the fish have fallen asleep."
"It is easiest to see in my neon tetras. Normally they are bright orange and blue and they are super active. But when they sleep they become almost transparent and they will sort of hover in the same spot."
"Eventually if I leave the light on enough they wake up but because I want them to be comfortable, I try to keep the lights off once they go to bed."-ET318
Perhaps the most comforting bit about all these facts? They quite literally keep the world running. So they're not just comforting, they're also necessary.
The world needs comfort to function.
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People Speculate How They Would React If A Relative Gifted Them A Lottery Ticket That Won Big
Lottery tickets are a pretty commonplace gift for the holidays. It's an easy way to give someone something completely noncommittal and kind of fun gift, where even if they don't win, they play a little.
But what if you did win?
It's a fun, though unlikely, thought. Still, not impossible.
Do you ever just let your mind wander a little bit into the realm of what it would be like if you won fabulous riches?
Redditor clooless46 asked:
"A relative gives you a $10 scratcher for the holidays and you win a $1,000,000 prize right in front of them. What do you do?"
Here were some of those fantasies.
What COULD Happen
"OMG, I remember a People’s Court episode over a scratch off. My mom loved that show."
"Apparently two friends went grocery shopping together. First one pays then asks second one if she can borrow $1. Second one gives her a buck. Well, first one bought a scratcher and won something like $500 or $1000."
"Second one demanded the money, as it was her dollar. Ended up in front of Judge Wapner, who ruled that second one only deserves $1."
"His point to her when she protested was 'if your friend bought a Coke with that dollar, would you sue her for it?' So there’s at least a similar TV court precedent, lol!"-LaLionneEcossaise
Hi-Ho The Glamorous Life
"It actually happened to a friend of mine. Gave his dad a scratch ticket for his birthday, and he scratched it like you do, and honest-to-f**k, he won $1,000,000."
"The son had posted a video, it was with a pre-iPhone camera phone (kids, they were terrible). He went to check it at the store just to confirm and it was like watching someone have an out of body experience."
"Generally, he’s relatively reserved. But watching him go and check it was completely different. He was screaming, having panic attacks, including hard time breathing. He couldn’t contain himself. It was pretty cool to watch."
"They came from lower/middle class, they bought a nice sized house, and gave the son a sizeable amount. I don’t know exact numbers, but he got a nice vehicle, and a few other nice things. It was quite the story."-four4youglencoco
-Shrug-
"Laugh. There isn't much to do."
"Like they give you a scratcher in hope for you to win, and if you win, then both parties should be happy, otherwise you shouldn't buy a scratcher for people if you don't want them to win."-MorrowFane
It's true that too much money can really turn some people a little crazy.
Pre-Empting Part One
"Split it. Straight down the middle, no hesitation. Actually surprised the top 5 comments have 100's of upvotes all effectively saying 'f**k you, that's my money.' 1 mil is no joke, half a mil is enough to change a life."
"Better to change both of your lives and have a shared life-changing event. I'd feel guilty as fuck, and depending on the relative maybe even slightly afraid, if I gave them just 10% or even nothing."
"That sounds like some deep rooted resentment waiting to manifest. Anyway, reverse the roles, you'd feel pretty jipped if somebody you cared enough about to buy a gift for decided to keep the lot for themselves."-ediblehunt
Pre Empting Part Two
"Seems like it wouldn't be a bad idea to just ask them straight up if they expect anything. They get one shot to be generous or greedy with their answer, and you can still say no to whatever they propose if you choose to."
"My guess is no matter what you offer, your idea of fair and their idea of fair is highly likely to be different and I think it would be a rare relative that wouldn't manage to have hard feelings if they feel shorted somehow."
"You'll never convince them it's fair unless it was their idea."-MDF247
Expectations Vs. Reality
"Just to point something out immediately, they bought YOU the Scratchcard. You don't owe them anything, but common decency would dictate you should show your gratitude."
"I'd likely pay to take their family on a holiday, and pay off any debts or a mortgage they have. And maybe a car. If I bought someone a scratchcard and they won big, I wouldn't expect them to give me half their money, but I must admit that if they won a million, I'd at least would want them to pay off my 15k debt, I wouldn't want anything else."
"I bought them the Scratchcard as a gift, which I've done many times, and that gift has no strings attached."-Dangerous-Jaguar-654
Sharing Is Caring
"Of course I share with my entire family, no hesitation at all."
"Not just the person who gifted it to me. It was a gift. It became mine, win or lose. Imo, it is legally and morally my money to do with as I choose."
"I would choose to share with my family. Not out of obligation or with the gifter because of 'owing them.' I would choose to share because it is my money and that would be how I'd 'spend' it. ❤️"-4letters1name
There is a lot of pressure to immediately figure out what you are going to do with this money once you get it.
To The Vault!
"Keep my damn mouth shut and not make any promises. Get the ticket in to a safe deposit box as soon as possible. Give it a few days and decide what I want to give them."
"Some relatives would get half the after-tax amount, some would get far less and I'd enjoy watching them explode over such a slight."
"Once I've come to a decision I'd have my lawyer draw up paperwork. No handshake agreements, no verbal agreements, ink and paper!"
"Once the paperwork was drawn up, signed, and notarized I'd retrieve the ticket. Cash it, divide as agreed, and go about my day."-NS8VN
Just In Case.....
"I'm sure this will get lost in the comments... but years ago (like 2002) my boss asked me to go get him a quick pick for the lottery while I was at lunch. The lottery in my area was north of 300 mil at the time. He gave me the money to snag it for him while I was out."
"When I was going in to buy it, I had the sudden realization that the ticket I buy might win him millions and I would have literally handed that over to him. I spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out a solution to this realization and did the only thing I could think of to do."
"I purchased his ticket with quick pick as he requested (computer assisted.) I then took his ticket and went and manually played the numbers the computer picked for his ticket and purchased that for myself."
"That way if somehow he won, he'd at least be splitting it with me."
"I never told him this story and I still have lunch with him to this day every so often despite not working for him since 2004. In fact, ironically enough he called me today to wish me a late happy thanksgiving."-jackfirefish
Touching
"I work for a very large lottery operator. On my first day they gave us a tour of the facilities and there was an elderly couple there who’d won a price of approximately $10k per month for 10 years and they were there to collect."
"It was like watching two people have an out of body experience and they were waiting for someone to wake them up or something."
"Increasingly heart warming stuff when they started talking about all the really mundane stuff they were going to do with the money that they couldn’t do before. Like, fix the air con, visit their daughter interstate et."-Linkan1234
Some people have a clearer idea of what they need wealth and riches for. Some people have no idea--they just know that having it would elevate their status.
But some people could really see their lives change for the better with an influx of money. And that's why so many of us dream of things like winning the lottery.
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Movies are made to touch us deeply, as they mirror our human experiences back at us.
Movies that have that kind of impact are not to be taken lightly. They often deal with heavy subject matter that there is no sugarcoating: for example, the film Grave Of The Fireflies deals with some extremely harsh realities of what it was like to live in Japan during WWII, as we see the suffering brought on two innocent children.
These movies are made to do something to you--not just for you to view.
Redditor ayebrando asked:
"What movie genuinely made you cry?"
Here were some of those answers.
Why We Don't Spread Rumors
"Jagten, a Danish movie about a kindergarten teacher falsely accused of molesting his best friends daughter. At one point someone kills his dog, and the scene where he digs a hole in the rain to bury his dog is hartbreaking."-Cashewkaas
The Most Famous Bit Of A Long And Famous Film
"Dear Fellas. I can't believe how fast things move on the outside. I saw an automobile once when I was a kid, but now they're everywhere. The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry."
"The parole board got me into this halfway house called the Brewer, and a job bagging groceries at the Food-Way. It's hard work. I try to keep up, but my hands hurt most of the time. I don't think the store manager likes me very much."
"Sometimes after work I go to the park and feed the birds. I keep thinking Jake might just show up and say hello. But he never does. I hope wherever he is, he's doing okay and making new friends. I have trouble sleeping at night."
"I have -- bad dreams, like I'm falling. I wake up scared. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember where I am. Maybe I should get me a gun and rob the Food-Way, so they'd send me home. I could shoot the manager while I was at it, sort of like a bonus."
"I guess I'm too old for that sort of nonsense anymore. I don't like it here. I'm tired of being afraid all the time. I've decided not to stay. I doubt they'll kick up any fuss. Not for an old crook like me."-Artegor2
When You're The Best Of Friends
"Oh my god, the fox and the hound is way too low on this list. When Todd gets taken to the forest.... I can't..."
"Aaaaand I just realized this may be why I'm so adamant about pets being pets for life. I literally lost it when my husband suggested we may need to rehome one of our cats because she doesn't like our other 2 and was peeing on all our beds. We haven't."-ladydemeter88
Not one of these films has left eyes dry as it played for an audience.
And Have We Learned A Thing?
"The Green Mile--the 'I'm afraid of the dark' scene. The acting performance in that scene, and in the film in general, are incredible."
"You can see the dance of emotions playing across Tom Hanks' face when he shakes John Coffey's hand. Watching Brutal, the big man of the prison, with eyes welling and jaw clenching, pains you."
"The knowledge that they've witnessed miracles from this good and kind man, who faces a painful and unjust death, is heartbreaking. It's a tragic, devastating and yet beautiful scene. I cry every time."-Boorish_Bear
Viel Späß
"Jojo Rabbit. I still think about that movie. There's a lot of subtlety and depth considering it's such a controversial topic to satirize. The fact that Hitler is so kind and silly at first passes over you, or you think it's just for comic relief."
"You realize that JoJo has never actually met Hitler and he's just a naive kid. This Hitler is somebody entirely of his own creation and is actually a better reflection of who HE is on the inside."
"It's easy to understand how such young children were influenced and taught to 'hate,' many without really hating."-Universal_Vitality
Take Her To The Moon For Me
"I haven't seen the entirety of Inside Out, and frankly I refuse to. We would have movie days with the kids at my work and this movie usually won the vote."
"I'm the senior lead of my group, so during the movies I would step out and take care of other things or prepare for the next activity, only peeking through the door every so often to make sure my other leaders are on task or that my kids aren't being disruptive."
"I made the mistake of coming in to watch for a bit during the Bing Bong scene. I walked in, couldn't take my eyes off the screen, and then immediately had to leave because I started crying."
"I sat in the bathroom for like 10 minutes after that because I was crying so much. I refuse to watch the rest of the movie because of that. I know the movie is really good, I've heard amazing things and I've seen a few clips of it, but this scene just wrecked me enough that I couldn't."-duuckyy
These Actors Were Perfectly Cast In Their Roles | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Sometimes an actor comes along that is able to reach the audience on a deeper level. The actor that immediately comes to mind is Robin Williams. Although it ...War Never Changes
"Saving Private Ryan. Both grandpas were in WWll. It made me realize what they went through and how easily I could have ended up never existing. Really shows what war is and Doesnt dress it up to make it look cool or heroic."-Notesandstuff
It's because we crave these moments of catharsis, understanding, and loving tin our own lives that we gravitate so deeply to these films.
The Real Stakes Of Being A Parent
"Interstellar made me cry twice, once when he got back from the planet that made decades pass in minutes for him and he watched a bunch of videos from his kids that grew into adults, and then when he was yelling at himself to not leave."-uhokbutwhy
"When he watched the videos from his kids we had to stop the movie for like 10 minutes. I've cried in sad movies, but I've never lost my sh*t like that during a movie."-WizardofN0Z
Ten Million Fireflies
"Grave of the Fireflies. I cried, but even worse was the depressed/grief feeling that would hit me at odd times for like weeks after."
"I'd be fine and then some memory from it would return and it would feel like my heart got punched. Most haunting film I've ever seen."-gugalgirl
"This movie was emotionally brutal. Seen with Totoro in its original double bill must have been a complete heartf*ck."
"The saddest movie and the most heartwarming together, I hope Totoro was second because the other way round would send you off a cliff."-cagesound
Pixar Again
"I watched Up with my Grandpa six months after my Grandma died. It was incredibly therapeutic. Two grown a** men ugly cried during that montage."
"The rest of the movie where the old man learns that his wife would want him to keep living instead of being an old grump struck a chord with my Grandpa. And the fight scene between the old men had my Grandpa howling. 11/10 I recommend."-eddiewachowski
Not The Killer Jack
"Almost every Christmas/Holiday season I'd toon in or get a glimpse of 'Jack Frost,' the one with Michael Keaton in it (not the serial killer, lol)."
"Anyways, the main protagonist, Charlie, loses his dad in an car accident while driving throw a snowstorm for a show. A year later, he builds a snowman all by himself when traditionally he'd do it with his dad."
"But it's quite bittersweet now that Jack is gone and the snowman building is a memory of his dad that made him happy, and as a way to cope with his own grief."
"I've haven't had the experience of losing my dad, but the whole scene paired up with Fleetwood Mac's 'Landslide' always challenged me to not well up by the end of it, and I'd often lose."
"Another movie that was a tearjerker from when I saw it way back in theatres was the end of Inside Out."-JadedDesolation
The Aminals
"Homeward Bound, the newer version with Sally fields and Michael j Fox doing voice overs. When the old man dog comes limping over the hill i just can't help it. Also the Movie Lion. That one makes me tear up."-Daladain
"THERE'S A NEWER ONE?!"-SoccerGamerGuy7
It's An Art To Be Moved
"Coco is a tear-jerker, but it’s too much. I hate super sad movies because they leave me feeling drained. Coco is a prime example. I refuse to watch dog movies because they’re always sad because the dog always dies."
"My favorite tear-jerker is Onward because it’s sad, but it’s not so sad that I feel drained. I love the dynamic between the characters, too."-eksyte
Stay Gold
"I recently saw the directors cut of 'The Outsiders' in the cinema. I've seen the film and read the book I don't know how many times and I've cried. But this time was different."
"I bawled through the entire last half of the film. I lived a youth very close to the characters in the film and I lost a lot of friends. I have two older brothers who are just like Soda and Darry."
"Everything in that film just hits so close to home."-MrC99
It's A Metaphor
"The Fault in our Stars, and the book did too. I know it’s pretty much a standard YA romance flick but it’s pretty genuine. There’s no fantasy element to it like they’re not in a dystopian society, they’re not wizards, not vampires, not fighting demons, etc."
"Just two perfectly normal teenagers, even if their character archetypes were a little pretentious and melodramatic. (Cigarettes are a metaphor, really?)"
"There’s also no great drama or love triangle. They’re just honestly and earnestly in love with each other. But they’re fighting a monster that’s just all to real and causes so much heartbreak and suffering in this world - cancer."
"The scene where Grace/Hazel or whatever finds out (movie) and narrates (book) his death really got me. No one deserves that slow death by sickness. That suffering and humiliation."
"And even though teen love is romanticized and dramatized it really was portrayed in an honest way that had meaning and realness. Such sadness and a tragedy for something so good between two good people to be ripped away like that."-TheVapingPug
The Artists Know
"Disney’s : Soul. This will contain SPOILERS. I guess the reason it made me cry was because when I watched the trailer about a guy stuck teaching the piano to kids instead of playing on stage professionally suddenly dying—my initial thought was this will have a very predictable plot and ending."
"To my surprise, they touched a very different subject. I thought it would encourage us to finally pursue what we really want and that we shouldn’t put a hold on it because life is short and you’ll miss out."
"The movie however revealed that, sometimes these dreams are overrated and that we miss out on life because we think life only begins when we get to have what we always wanted."
"Life doesn’t begin in the future, life is happening RIGHT NOW, and so we must be fully here to live it. I don’t know that was just something that spoke so deeply to me."-sasameseed
Movies have the power to change us as people after experiencing them. One of the greatest human superpowers is empathy, and through our empathy we developed this art form to tell each other about....well, each other.
The next time you're crying at a film, remember-how beautiful it is that we can have such experiences at all.
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