To ask for weird realisations you’ve had about life?

[goergia]

Things about mundane life that you’ve never given much thought but suddenly think “Now I think about it, that’s weird.”

I had one of these today. I live in a mid-terrace, neighbours are nice and quiet and we don’t hear a peep. A few days ago I had a snoop at one of the next-door neighbour’s house on Rightmove after seeing it was for sale, and realised that they have their bed right up against our party wall as I do mine. So even though I sleep in bed alone every night, there’s actually 2 people who I don’t really know just a couple of inches away from me! I don’t know why but for some reason it creeps me out. I’ve realised that in terraced houses you’re actually sharing one building with lots of people, many of whom you will NEVER interact with.

@gezzab33

That nobody really knows anybody. We are all living secret lives inside our heads.

Yes!

There is music from the 1650's that is still popular today.

I do wonder if in 2525 for example, whether people will still remember the likes of Take That, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, or anyone that we currently enjoy in the charts.

I also wonder if the music from the 1650's will still be popular in 2525.

Thursday Addams

Last times.

I was just about to post this when I saw you'd done it already.

Yes, that sort of thing haunts me.

I sometimes imagine somewhere is a count of how many times we will do a particular thing - like marbles in a jar, we only have so many.

Each time we do that one thing, another marble is taken out of that jar.

So many times we don't realise we just took the last one.

@Bogeyes

That many adults are stupid

This ^

Great thread, a few of mine are...

That in some future time another person or family will be living their lives in my house once I have left. Just like the previous occupier did before I moved in. Sleeping in my bedroom, cooking in my kitchen etc.

That what we humans imagine as aliens may be some form that we cannot even comprehend. Aliens may not have arms, legs a head or even be solid, how do we truly know what other beings will look like? Gelatinous blobs? microscopic things? Gaseous things? Or other forms that we cannot even imagine.

That I was born a human being, I could have just as easily been a worm, a sloth, a fish, a may fly that lived for just a day or a creature that lives in total darkness in the abyss of the ocean.

A million seconds is 12 days, a billion seconds 31 years. This really gave me new perspective on the difference also between a millionaire and a billionaire.

@ToryWantsBorisOut

It's like when my A-level RE teacher casually said "of course, Son of God was just used in Hebrew as a figure of speech to describe a very holy man, and Christ's contemporaries never literally considered him the son of God, nor did Christ ever claim to be anything other than a prophet."

Not a great teacher since he misrepresented Biblical text and apparently didn't know the difference between Son of God and Son of Man (both titles given to Jesus which counterintuitively each have the reverse meaning to what you would expect). I'm not saying he should have presented it as fact but that's just not a good understanding of the Old or New Testament at all .
(I'm picturing a man for some reason but substitute 'she' as applicable!)

@Haggisfish3

Fossils amaze me-they have survived for sooooooooooo long!!!

And how many fossils and other detritus of eons gone by were just destroyed because whoever dug them up didnt know what they were looking at? Who knows how many bones of creatures were found, but the finder lobbed them away.

This came to me when I went fossil hunting on the Jurassic coast as a child. I wouldnt have recognised a fossil from a fig. I just enjoyed using a crowbar and hammer legitimately. If I came across a very old fossil I likely lobbed it into the sea where it will have worn away into sand.

And not just that most adults are stupid - do you ever reflect on something an adult said or did as a child that you only realize in retrospect was actually sinister? Like an adult in a position of authority? So long story short when I was a teenager I got diagnosed with anorexia because ARFID/autism wasn't recognised or understood then so that's what it looked like to the profesionals. So I was about...13...just...and short/underweight/underdeveloped. And I have a clear memory of being in a psychiatrist's office and him looking me up and down and saying....

'You know....you don't have to starve yourself. Men like a bit of meat on a girl, a bit of thigh, a bit of bum.'

Being autistic I was just baffled at the time but in retrospect

WHAT THE HOLY SHIT.

I have no idea what this man's name was by the way or even remember where he practiced.

I'm formally educated to a very high level, and I definitely don't think that people are stupid. People make different choices and also have different opportunities, or aspirations. Education isn't alway formal eg via college or university, and sometimes you have to learn to unthink some of the things you learn there. Especially over time, as things move on.

Talking of fossils, i have a beautiful little ammonite. It is only about 1inch across. I picked it up on a geology field trip years ago.
I really love that little creature even though it is not really the creature itself just an impression. It is loved! But it will never know this and could never comprehend that any way.

@Catlady2021

Here’s another one- the Falklands war. A family member served in it. 40 years ago! The same amount of time has now passed since 1982 until now ,than it did from WW2 to 1982… if that makes sense?!

Yet, if you told school children in 1982 about the 1940s it would have seemed like ancient history to them.
Yet the 1980s still feels fairly recent to me!

I suspect this is due to you aging and if you asked kids nowadays about the 1980s it would be ancient to them! I remember some kids I volunteered with going ‘omg you were born in the 1900s, you are sooo old!’ (I was 25)

Amazing thread, have had many moments of recognition and feel reassured I’m not the only one wondering about these things.

Couple that haven’t been mentioned yet, both rather morbid I’m afraid!

I heard this a couple of years ago and haven’t been able to shake it off: my mum is in her early 70s, so suppose she has another 15 years or so, I currently see her 2-3 times a year as I’ve lived in the UK for almost 30 years now and she lives in my home country. This means I may only see her on another 50 more occasions, that makes me so sad.

And on a completely different note, given the large number of children that suffer abuse, often at home (is it 10% of children that are a victim of sexual abuse?) I often think there must be at least two or three victims in my children’s classes but I don’t know who they are and have no means of finding out so I can’t do anything to help them and it really upsets me.

I guess it’s similar to the earlier poster who mentioned being around sex offenders. Often when I’m in a crowd I am acutely aware that I have no idea who’s standing right next to me.

Jesus! I didn't think CSA was anywhere near 10% of kids

I'm formally educated to a very high level, and I definitelydon'tthink that people are stupid.

How are we defining 'stupid' though? By definition, approximately half the population is below average intelligence, and some people have low or even very low intelligence. It may not sound like a nice thing to say, but it's a fact.

@lameasahorse

That men I know and may socialise with are secretly sexually abusing their children.

How do you know it’s people you know?

@lameasahorse

That men I know and may socialise with are secretly sexually abusing their children.

Isn’t it more likely with kids they know as opposed to their own?

Ugh horrible topic.

That my puppy has puppy ancestors going back to the dawn of time

I don’t obviously worship or adore her in a god like way 😂. I do think she’s quite beautiful and I’d love to look like her though. . My clothes are similar to hers but my hair is not alas.

@lameasahorse

That men I know and may socialise with are secretly sexually abusing their children.

Do you mean "I know Bob is" or that statistically, some of them must but I can't imagine who?

That I was born a human being, I could have just as easily been a worm, a sloth, a fish, a may fly that lived for just a day or a creature that lives in total darkness in the abyss of the ocean. Well I suppose it depends on how you identify "you". The creature that came from your mother's womb could only be a human, thanks to evolution. Unless by you you mean soul and you believe souls just happen into any living creature regardless of their level of self awareness?

@lameasahorse

I mean statistically. I am sociable, we meet a lot of people. Statistically, some of them will be sexually abusing their own children.

Of course, if I ever suspected this I would report it, with zero hesitation. I don't. But I also remember as a young adult having friends I lived with who said their dad sexually abused them and I had met their fathers and they seemed nice ordinary men.

But sometimes at a larger event e.g. barbeque, with kids running around, this thought will occur to me.

Yes, this! This thought occurs to me too, thankfully not on a daily basis mind…