An act of kindness. Strangers lending a helping hand. People from all walks of life sharing a few laughs. These are examples of the things in life that offer a ray of hope for the human race.
As the past few years seemed to have brought out the absolute worst in people during the bleakest of times, Redditor MOSTLYSANEBOI wondered if we as a species are still on the right track.
Curious to hear what strangers online have witnessed that left them feeling otherwise, the Redditor asked:
"What incident made you realize humanity is doomed?"
Educators have experienced sobering realizations about our youth.
Future Generation
"No event but being a HS teacher."
– Toihva
"why I have retired 10 years earlier than planned. i'll be very poor but I just can't do it anymore."
– bakemetoyourleader
In Need Of A Reworking
"I actually gave one of my fellow educators a minor mental breakdown during lunch the other day by reminding them that our students are going to be of voting age in the next few years. I don't work in a terrible district or anything, but boy, if you guys only knew some of the stupid sh*t I've heard from these kids."
"I love them to death, but I feel kind of sad about some of the people that we have going out into the world. Our education system needs a huge reworking. But sadly, it's all by design."
– psychobilly1
People Are People
"At my previous job, nothing hit me harder than the time I met up with university students from Harvard to talk about our research project and realizing that they're no different from anyone else."
"The only thing that was different was the fact that they had better grades in high-school and or had some sort of family connection to the establishment (they all came from wealth despite their claims). Literally that's it."
"Up until that point, I figured that these students were amongst the best of the best in our field, when really they're just as good as me or anyone else who has had at least a few months of training, and even then, they're still... normal. They have flaws, ideas, dreams... just like you or me. People are people."
"Edit: Yes. A lot of them are genuinely smart and amazing people who earned their merits. But like I'm trying to convey, they're still just people like you or me."
– mjohnsimon
Some people's behaviors warrant a face-palming, eye-roll-inducing combo.
Swipe, Then Swipe Some More
"I have to limit how much I view social media because there are so many absolutely disgusting people being cheered on and celebrated for things that they should be ashamed of."
– black_soul_gym
T.P. Shortage
"The search for toilet paper in 2020."
– I_want_to_lurk
"Yeah that was wild. We ordered a bidet so we didn’t have to deal with it. It’s amazing how much less toilet paper we use now. It’s like 1 roll a month maybe."
– thebeandream
People working in retail got more than they bargained for.
Simple Math
"I work retail and we are running 50% off this week. People are unable to tell how much 2 of the same product will cost. The products are priced with both the original price and the sale price."
– aniacret
Moronic Customers
"Retail is like this. Customers are f'king morons. I worked at a hardware store and so many people wanted male-male electricity plugs for their Christmas lights. We called this obviously not real item 'suicide wire.'"
"One couple came in and I explained why that is so unsafe. The husband was like 'oh yeah. Duh. We are dumb' while the wife kept arguing. Husband managed to cool her off but she still didn’t get it."
"EDIT: Also had a customer come in with an alarm clock he purchased saying it didn’t work even after putting the battery in it was stuck on a certain time. Without thinking I pulled the stock sticker off the front and showed him it worked just fine. Then I saw his mortified face and realized he didn’t even think to take the sticker off."
– Spiderbubble
Gone Bananas
"I used to work produce. Had a customer ask me where the bananas were... while I was standing in front of a 6-foot tall wall of bananas, with a cart full of boxes of bananas... actively putting them on the wall of said bananas."
"Look man questions are free but you can't ask me to point something out while I'm actively holding said objects. I stared that f'ker down until he walked away cussing me out 'I just wanted to know where the bananas were."'
– flic_my_bic
Tourists And Students In A Room
"I worked at a 24hr convenience store in Harvard Square in the 90s and dealt with mostly tourists and Harvard students. Seeing all these people from around the world and all of our 'brightest' minds collectively in one room made me realize just how stupid people are. It’s amazing we’ve gotten this far. Morons, all of us."
– Sirnando138
The Panic Is Real
"Probably after experiencing how rapidly many people turn into selfish, aggressive, uncivilised thugs over mundane things. Each year, when shoppers are allowed out in public, Black Friday degenerates into the charge of the barbarian hordes. I've seen deranged mothers clawing each other's faces over the last slightly discounted 4K TV. Fist fights over who is next into a store."
"Then we had the lock down in 2020 and I got to see shrieking harpies, pulling each other's hair out over toilet roll. Ramming trollies in aisles. Spitting and swearing nutters charging and tackling other shoppers over pasta and water. Bedlam."
"Recent 'fuel shortages' in the UK saw some areas beset by panic buyers, people getting assaulted on the forecourts. Road rage outside filling stations. Scenes not out of place in a Mad Max film."
"I shudder to imagine how people would react to a real crisis."
– [deleted]
The following issues have a global impact but are continually being swept under the rug.
Environmental Concerns
"I studied ecology and then taught Biology and Environmental Science for 16 years. Warnings from Scientists on climate change have become more and more dire, and global leaders/corporations continue to talk about taking action but they don't actually do what is required. They have instead become skilled at making the average citizen feel bad and responsible for it."
– aartadventure
Ignoring Past Mistakes
"The absolute unwillingness to make decisions based on history. 'The last 3 times we tried it this bad thing happened but itll work this time' it doesn't."
– bludstone
The Plastic Problem
"Not rly an incident yet seeing the progression of one-time use plastic waste and how much plastic is thrown away every day. I work in a hospital. The amt of garbage one pt generates is stupid. In ICU, more stupid. And at my hospital there are about 300-400 inpatients every day. And there are 14 hospitals in just this metro area. This sh*t is all made from oil. One-time use take-out food containers…"
– minnesotaris
Megalomaniacs
"When I realized psychopaths rise to positions of influence at a disproportionate rate."
"Something fundamentally self destructive about humanity, not enough people seek positions in society to better society. Far too often it’s selfish people seeking to abuse positions of influence for their own benefit even if it means screwing over everyone else."
– Anagnorsis
And Then There's This
"I’d say 2 world wars in under 25 years would do the trick."
– GooseOk4994
The question we should be asking ourselves is, "what can we do to save the human race?'
Because at this point, it seems that, as a species, we are going nowhere fast.
Allowing total failure is not an option.
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