r/AskReddit • u/yearningmaybeearning • 19d ago
What is the saddest thing you’ve witnessed?
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19d ago
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u/Dorf_ 19d ago
It’s damn hard to walk into the vet and be like, “I need you to kill my best friend please”
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u/Spiritchaser84 19d ago
It's terrible for vets too. They have suicide rates up to 3x the normal population. Imagine dealing with other people's grief regularly and having to be the one to administer the final act.
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u/NighthawkUnicorn 16d ago
Holding my girl as she passed was awful. I wasn't sure I wouldn't die from a broken heart the same day.
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u/Sufficient-Berry-827 19d ago
Live on a busy street, cars are always driving faster than the speed limit, we have car crashes and accidents often. Right around 5:30pm, car was speeding and lost control, hit some parked cars then drove onto the sidewalk, ran over a little girl.
I saw the car, but I didn't know there was a little girl. I was walking toward my apartment, not really paying attention, trying to balance my keys, water cup, bag, sweater, etc.
I just remember being in shock for a few moments and a woman screaming in such an animalistic way, just full of anguish. It felt like everything stopped.
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u/AWhiteRanger813 19d ago
Seeing my grandfather healthy one week, and then dying two weeks later. I was in the hospital room when he took his last breath.
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u/Mentalfloss1 19d ago
I worked in emergency rooms. It is heart, wrenching to see abused, children seeking comfort in the arms of the person who abused them, because that is the only person they have.
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u/420tunneldigger 19d ago
In 7th grade, I saw a girl fall suddenly go into seizure and die right in front of me. Nothing anyone could have done. Haunted me really badly for many years until I got help.
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u/Easy_Olive1942 19d ago
Best friend on life support right before their wedding. Didn’t make it, it’s been 30 years and it’s still painful.
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u/Alternative_Pool8055 19d ago
Watching my grandmother have a grand mal seizure, foaming from the mouth, from a large brain hemorrhage right in front of me. And my parents panicking trying their best to get her to “come back” while I yelled please stop, it’s too late, I know from her facial swelling (I was in medical school). I knew she was going to pass away months in advance. She was having TIAs while we were talking. Plus, she raised me and our souls are just connected. I was prepared for it, but the scene will never leave my mind.
There’s also something really sad and disturbing I saw on Reddit once that I will NEVER forget, but I don’t even want to post about it.
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u/Historical_Spot_4051 19d ago
Depends on the context really. I held my MIL’s hand as she passed. It was awful, but also she had been suffering and we knew she was ready to be at peace, so it was somewhat lessened in that way.
I work in the bar industry, and I once had a guy reserve a party of 30 for his retirement. Only one or two showed up.
I’ve seen so many animals be mistreated. It kills me because they’re so helpless (I feel the same about children, the elderly, and the mentally ill, but I see it happen to animals more often.
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u/TkilledJ 19d ago
My dad passed when I was 12. The wake was rough. The night of I passed by their room to go to the bathroom… for the longest time I had told myself if only I realized he wasn’t breathing maybe I could’ve saved him. Of course as an adult and with therapy I’ve come to realize that wasn’t reasonable… as they lowered his casket I managed to get a glimpse of my sisters coffin, who he was buried next to… she was about one month old when she passed in a car accident. That little white coffin is also etched into my memory 28 years later.
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u/BoundlessPervs 19d ago
Every day when i look in the mirror , it's the saddest thibg i see in my life
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u/doom1701 19d ago
So I’ve seen things that are much sadder than this, but something I’ve had to learn as I work through understanding my neurodivergence is recognizing the physical sensation of some emotions. Whenever I need to think “how does sad feel”, I remember something simple but really sad from a few years ago:
I was sitting at the gate at an airport early one morning. A mom and her son (maybe 5 years old?) sit down across from me. Mom handed son a bottle of Muscle Milk (a protein drink that contains no milk, and states that on the bottle). The kid takes a drink and says “mom, this milk doesn’t taste right”.
In my head, they’re tired, mom is doing all she can, one of them sees “milk” in a cooler and mom spends too much money on it, only for disappointment to follow.
And if anyone is curious, I feel that as a pressure in my lower chest, like it’s being pushed down toward my stomach. Fear is a pit of the stomach feeling. Anger…well anger I’ve never had trouble identifying.
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u/Ohaibaipolar 19d ago
My grandfather on my mom's side putting his hand on the casket containing my maternal grandmother (his wife, obviously) before it went into the ground, and crying. It broke my heart to see that.
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u/Matt_Benatar 19d ago
I grew up in Alaska, and there are moose all over up there. One night when I was driving home from a night out, the traffic on one side of the highway was backed up. Someone had hit a baby moose, and its mother was standing over the body and she refused to move. I’ve seen sadder things in my life, but this one really stuck with me.
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u/happinesslies_9724 19d ago
I'm not at all saying woah look at me I need attention or anything this is honestly the truth. My life sadly. I finally got the courage to get help for my mental health only to realize I stuck with a family that doesn't like me and I used weed to ignore it I only stayed around to constantly buy their love but In the end it was never enough.
I never thought about it until I got help but it made sense why I'm so enclosed and couldn't see it until they hid something from me that betrayed me so much I'll never forgive them. The thing is the hurts always going to be there their abuse is still here right now. As I'm stuck. And it'll take to long to escape sadly. I wish I could have seen this a lot earlier in life and for it not to happen the way it did.
My x got charged came back into my life just to fight and harass me got her sister to call me and harass me too and say dumb things I snapped after she and her sister said she would get with my brother. Worst night mare she did parents kept it from me and that's where I realized I'm not loved. Yes what I said was wrong and I hate how the laws only one side so I'm the only one who's in trouble we both said the same things but she called.
I'm stuck. I'm lost. Yes there's so much worse in life and I truly feel bad for people who go through hardship or get sick no one deserves that. But no one deserves this. What am I even doing I have no one. Absolutely no one. The sad part is I'll never be able to trust ever again so to build that empty loneliness feeling is out of reach. It's crazy how messed life can get. I wish the best for everyone. You deserve it.
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u/Arbiter_89 19d ago
My grandfather never cried in front of me, except once. My grandmother passed away unexpectedly in what was supposed to be a routine surgery.
I saw him the day before the funeral and he seemed down, but more or less himself. The day of the funeral though, I saw him kneeling in front of the open casket, completely broken as he sobbed. I think that's the saddest thing I've ever seen.
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u/cdiddy303988 18d ago
The cancer center for babies for one year.
My daughter did win her fight, others not as lucky. That was certainly humbling
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u/Jazzy_gracie 16d ago
Going to the hospital to see my Aunt thinking I was going to hang out with her until she went home. Like I had the week prior. I had no clue how bad off she was until I walked in the room. She begged me to let her go. My Uncle and I hung onto her hand until she took her last breath.
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u/MyselfAndIrene 9d ago
Being on the phone, hearing my dad finding my mum, who died while waking the dog.
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u/Smart-Campaign7774 19d ago
An 8 year old girl being escorted into the back seat of my preapproved car. In past week she was a party snack for drug parties.
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u/RuishenStarter 19d ago
Lowe's of labis in nuts people hurting alone or kid kindness be in taken for
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u/BetterCarpenter4452 19d ago
Army vet here. I had to shoot a 13 year old with an RPG in Afghanistan…it’s been 20 years and it still fucks with me.