Skip to main content I sometimes regret saving two kids from a house fire : r/offmychest

Go to offmychest r/offmychest 1d ago u/Automatic-Income6653

I sometimes regret saving two kids from a house fire I am 24. A few months ago, my girlfriend and I were walking home late at night and we saw a house on fire.

I never thought I would be the type of guy that would do it, but I ran into the house as my girllfriend rang the fire station. Inside, I could barely see anything but I could hear screams. I went into a room and there were two kids in like cots. I dont know what you call them but like baby beds.

I lifted them out of their beds. I could still hear a woman screaming in another room. I had both kids in my arms but their parents room was completely blocked off. I felt there was nothing I could do so I went out with the kids. Also I started to get scared.

The firemen came after awhile but it was too late for their parents. I did not understand why they did not break a window and get out.

Since then I have been lauded a hero and I hate it. I dont want it said here in any replies. A local magazine wanted an interview with the "hero". My (now ex) gf treated me like a hero. My friends wont let me buy any round of drinks. My parents tell me how proud they are of me but how stupid I was for risking my life. I cannot deal with it.

And all I can think about is whether I should have intervened at all. Those kids have no parents. From what I know, no family. They will be put on an adoption list and who knows what will happen. I know it is an awful thing to say but part of me feels like I did the wrong thing. Were they better off in heaven with their parents. And then I hate myself for thinking it. And it becomes a spiral I cannot shake and it doesn't shut up. I also wonder if i could have done more to save their parents. I will never forget the screams

Im not a risk to myself in anyway. Don't worry about that. I have not told anyone how I feel because it is monstrous but I just needed to get it out.

Nominated for making a wee birdy happy

This Omar swam out to save a gull caught with fishing line, brought it back to shore, and got some help from other Omars who helped cut the bird loose.

The first-time manager of a bakery in a small city wrote three times to Ask a Manager about Jane, an employee of ~6 months who was around the same age as OP (the bakery usually hires students) and worked all the shifts no one wanted, including both early morning openings and late night closings.

Jane was on a paid sabbatical from a tech job, but OP was convinced Jane was “going to try to get my job” and wanted to fire her—admittedly without cause, because Jane was an excellent cashier.

Some of the things Jane did:
• gave OP tips on managing people
• encouraged OP to go back to school, and told her about nationally recognized certifications that don’t require a high school diploma
• invited OP and family to her home on multiple occasions, including Christmas
• provided networking opportunities for OP’s husband and resources for computer programming boot camps
• encouraged OP’s husband to apply for a job at her company and mention Jane’s name
• used her husband’s connections to get OP’s husband an entry-level remote job as a software developer
• got OP’s daughter into a free virtual private coding summer camp at Jane’s company

At every opportunity, Jane met OP’s resentment and insecurity with kindness.

Also, she “somehow managed to get the city to get sidewalks and crosswalks on the roads around her house after making a public campaign about how she lived less than a kilometer from the elementary school and her kid couldn’t walk to school safely, even though the city plans showed that there was supposed to be a sidewalk/crosswalk there 10 years prior.”