Fresh Question #3: Truth from Experience

[Nightwing]

Hey everyone. And how is my favorite little happy community doing? Behaving well. Good. :) Nothing to report here, so let's hit it with another FQ! Lucky for humans, as we grow older we have the ability to grow wiser and find truth. So, in the philosophical stylings of Rene Descartes, share with us:

What were one or some of the things you used to believe were true when you were younger?? From Santa Clause to stories of monsters in your closet. Lord knows my imagination has had a few. ;)

originally number 55

[Calhoun07]

what a deep question! I don't want to dwell on the bad things, of course, the things we used to believe but now don't cuz we are a tad more jaded as time goes on or a bit more cynical about certain things. So how about if I just touch on the two you mentioned? Santa and monsters?

I stopped believing in Santa pretty early on. It didn't take too much wits to see that "Santa" and the "Easter Bunny" had the exact same hand writing as my Mom. I mean, really, how long did my parents think it would take me to catch on? I pretended a couple Christmases to humor the old lady, but you know, you can only keep up the fascade for so long. I had to break it to her eventually!

I had a nightmare when I was a kid of a ghost running out of my closet and disappearing into the wall opposite of the closet, and for years after that I had to keep my closet closed when I slept. And of course, there were monsters under the bed beliefs, where I would leap off my bed and on to the floor a safe distance from my bed (when the lights were off, of course) cuz I knew monster arms were not long enough to reach me if I jumped off the bed and landed a safe distance away, so I also had them where I wanted them to be!

[Captain Caps]

I used to believe that Mickey Mouse was real. I was a big Disney fan in my youth, and I believed it right through to my time in the Middle School. All the other kids (At least I believed all) would say to me, "Hey, John. Mickey Mouse is dead!". This hurt me a lot. In retrospect, I notice that alternative music and Nirvana were gaining a lot of ground during this time. Coincidence? I don't know. Either way, by 6th grade, the kids had graduated to calling me "(bleep)hole", "(bleep)ard", "(bleep)", "mother(bleep)er" and dozens of other vile insults...but they never got in trouble. Whenever I retaliated, I got in trouble. It seemed to be only me and no one else.

Sincerely,

John "Captain Caps" Kilduff

[Calhoun07]

I used to believe Muppets were real people, alive and breathing and all that good stuff.

I also believed I could develop X ray vision like Superman if I concentrated long enough.

[Nightflower]

I stopped believing in Santa Claus and co., when I was 7. My mom just told me "Santa does not exist. I buy your presents." End of story.

The next sentence is filled with cynicism and ego: I believed, still, actually, that I am destined for great things ;)

[DR. BELCH]

--believed Samantha Stevens on Bewitched actually had those magic powers, and there was some magic formula I could drink to get some myself.

I also used to believe that Bill Clinton arranged to have innumerable people killed during his presidency. I was such a f...no, wait, I still actually rather believe that one. Never mind. ;) :rolleyes:

[optimal321]

I don't think that i've ever fully belived in anything like that. I went on letting my parents think that i believed in Santa Claus for a really long time; pre-teen age. But i don't know if i ever really believed in him when i was younger. Nothing ever hit me saying "Santa doesn't exist" or anything like that. But i tell ya, the parents started getting pretty sloppy those last few years. When they started going to bed earlier than me, the whole "Santa leaves presents in the middle of the night" thing fell apart.

I used to also believe that all cartoon characters were real and just hid in human costumes to go outside.

And of course there was the monsters thing.

[Failure]

I'm not sure when I stopped believing in Santa, pretty early in my life though. Maybe when I was around 6 or 7. I never believed in the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy or anything like that.

I used to believe that aliens were going to abduct me, so I used to close all the shades at night and pray that they didnt take me away. I believed that for a few years, from when I was about 8 to when I was 11 or so I guess. Kinda weird huh? :rolleyes:

[redDragon]

Santa wasn't really a big thing at my house.....but for a long time I believed that there were vampires and that they would come and drain me of blood when I went to sleep. Lots of burrowing under blankets...even in the summer ^^;;

[Calhoun07]

I remember once I believed if I planted a baked bean from my dinner plate outside it would grow into a giant beanstalk by the morning. It only took one try to shatter that belief.

[Singin' Stray Cat]

When I was a little kid, every once in a while I would hear this thumping and bumping noise coming from the direction of my closet. It seemed to always happen at night, so I swore there was a monster or some other evil thing in there, waiting to eat me up if I ever fell asleep. (Or something like that - in any case, it scared the heck out of me.)

One day my dad took me out to the backyard and asked me to find what was making that noise. I had no idea what he meant, so I sort of wandered around, doing an excellent impression of a tourist lost in a foreign country. Finally, I came to the garden hose, which was rolled up and hanging from a post sticking out from the side of the house. Next to my bedroom window - which was very close to my closet.

Turned out that all I was hearing was that stupid garden hose blowing in the wind, then landing with a thump against the side of the house. :p

[Roman Legion]

I used to believe that my house was haunted, and that ghosts and weird creepy things lurked about everywhere. Oh wait... I still believe that. Nevermind...

Romey
--Sees dead people... on occassion.

[Oracle]

I used to think my house was old house was haunted, too. I stopped believing that after a while, or at least until I actually did see a ghost there :eek: ... So I've seen a few dead people on occassion, also.

My brother used to torment me when I was little, so he was the cause of many emotional scars that I have today. ;) Being 12 years older than me, my dear bro had the advantage to make me believe a lot of stupid things. :rolleyes: He used to tell me that there was a tornado warning whenever it would rain, so I would go I hide in the basement and shut the door. Then he would proceed to knock on the door and tell me to let him in. When I did, he would act like he as a tornado and chase me around. So of course when there was a real tornado warning and everyone had to stay in the basement I was terrified out of my mind. I kept thinking that a tornado would come down the steps and get me.

[Psycho Fox]

For me I figured it out when my parents started signing their name instead of Santas. But I wasn't really upset back then I didn't really care who the present was from.

and the easter bunny is not real? :confused: waaaaaaaaaaaaaa Say it aint so, Say it aint so. :(

J/K

[JustJack]

At one time...I believed Wolverine was a steroid pumped cliche' super hero with a bad attitude. Boy was I wrong. Today, he is my favorite X-Men character...right next to Magneto & Toad...ahh..

Oh..wait...that was kinda...off....anyway......

My brother and sister convinced me that I was an alien when I was younger. But with time, I realized that I clearly had more of my parents DNA than either of my siblings. I mean..my brother has Red hair..where did THAT come from? hmmm...

haha.

As for Santa...he's real. Oh yes he is..... :mad: :p

[Calhoun07]

I've seen too much not to believe in hauntings and spirits and all that good stuff. I don't think that's something out of our grasp of understanding.

UFOs and aliens....well, I used to believe in them, too, but now I know what was going down! When I used to live in Minnesota, there were a few times we'd see odd things flying (and hovoring) in the sky in the country. We also saw alot of recognizeable objects, such military planes. Notice how "UFO" sightings increase around areas where you also see military planes and vehicles? One object we saw just hovered for a long time over a field and it was too small to be manned, and it didn't have anything like a helicopter. Then it just moved up in the sky and disappeared. I saw something on the news recently about unmanned spy planes they are sending out over Afganastan that can hover for periods of 24 hours and when I saw footage of it on the news, I knew that was a prototype we saw in the night sky in Minnesota, not aliens.

So I think that alot of "UFO" sightings are people seeing experimental military air craft in the sky.

[Failure]

Hmm, I remember seeing strange ufo's with weird flying patterns, which is what got me all worked up in the first place. Dover has a military airport I believe, but I'm not sure whether they test prototypes there.

I still believe UFO's and aliens exist. But for whatever reason, I choose to believe that they're good guys and if I ever meet them I figure I'll try to convince them to give me some superpowers. That is my new belief.

[BourgeoisBuffoon]

Yep, Dover has an Air Force Base. And I'm sure they test weird stuff there. :)

I was actually a realist, my parents explained all the myths except for...Santa. I believed him, but around 9 Isaw my Mom's handwriting was the same as his. At least I wasn't shattered forever. ;)

I belive in aliens; we surely can't be the only intelligent race out there! Too many stars exist out there....

[Kal-el]

I never believed in Santa or the Easter bunny. Neither of them made practical sense to me. Growing up I always knew the "true" meanings and traditions behind Christmas and Easter. A bunny on Easter always seemed silly to me.
I did believe that there were creatures of some kind under my bed. I also believed that the General Lee was the greatest car ever and that it was the only car that could jump over creeks and rivers and stuff.
I also used to think Superman was based on a real person.
Where did the tooth fairy get all of her money, anyway?

[Calhoun07]

I always wondered what the Tooth Fairy wanted with all those kid's teeth! Seemed a little odd with me that she had such a fascination with saving teeth.

[Failure]

Originally posted by calhoun07
I always wondered what the Tooth Fairy wanted with all those kid's teeth! Seemed a little odd with me that she had such a fascination with saving teeth.

Hmm, I've wondered about that myself. Santa rewards good kids, Easter bunny rewards... what's the easter bunny's deal as well? Maybe he's just generous. But the tooth fairy, hmmm... It reminds me of a Calvin & Hobbes comic where Calvin decides to make plaster replicants of his tooth to make money and Hobbes wonders whether it'll work and Calvin responds by saying the toothfairy cant be that smart anyway if she's paying for old teeth.

[DR. BELCH]

The ultimate horror...a mythical winged orally-fixated denti-fetishist. :rolleyes: I can't say what's worse, that or an altruistic sweetmeat-distributing lagomorph (Easter Bunny)....

[Maxie Zeus]

O/T: Terry Pratchett's comic-fantasy novel "Hogfather" answers the question about the tooth fairy. Seems she's protecting kids from all those diabolical forces that like to collect bits and pieces of people for use in occult magic.

Back on-topic: I don't remember any particular false beliefs I had. I don't remember when I stopped believing in Santa or the Easter Bunny, but I think that's cuz my folks never made a big deal of them.

Of course, I had the usual phobias about "monsters" when I was 7 or so, and would burrow under the covers when I went to sleep. I remember Bigfoot was a particular terror of mine, and would have nightmares about him breaking into my room thru the window.

[CerebralSocko]

Chucky, from the "Child's Play" horror movies. I saw part 2 when I was about 9 years old and it scared the crap out of me. Stupid cousins. Anyway, I used to think that he was real and might pop out at me at anytime, anywhere, anywhen. Years later, I grew out of it and became a fan of the movies.

-Socko

[Danielle]

I'd actually go reverse; I believe things now that I never thought I'd believe as a child. *shrugs* Though there are some things, like the Tooth Fairy, that I believed in them. Proof of my belief could possibly be that picture of a tooth I drew after my real tooth fell down the drain in the bathroom sink... ;)


And Santa. I used to belive (but only for a short while) that I was always a bad girl in December, and Santa would never give me any presents, so my parents gave me presents to make up for it. I tried real hard to be a good girl in December, but Santa would never visit me. And I'd look at all the kids who get presents on Christmas, sigh, and tell myself, "They must be REALLY good. I wonder what their secret is....."

[Frozen]

I used to believe that my teddy bear came to life when I slept, and I used to have this paranoid fear that monsters were IN my bed, not under it. I used to think they were at the foot of the bed, under the sheets - thus I never EVER slept in anything other than a ball so the monsters couldn't get my feet...

[sun]

I had this belief from youth, that somehow, everything would always turn out ok....That what is right will win out, and what is wrong, will lose, fair and honest actions conquer over all...Well, I didn't get that one right.. As someone said, Good only conquers over evil, when good people act; evil often wins, because good people do nothing..." (not exact, but someone will correct me, I know...good to see you all again, Stuart

[Batman 80]

When I was younger I was terrified of Michael Myers from Halloween. I used to dream about him chasing me all the time. One time I swore I saw him walking down my hallway when I was about 8 or so. Many years later I would become a Halloween fan and can watch it over and over.

[freakboy86]

I remeber being afraid for Batman and Robin at the cliffhanger endings to their shows, actually believing that they were going to die in Joker's giant drum or eaten alive by King Tut's giant clam. Now, of course, I know that they would naturally live on to defeat the villain and save the day.

Sometimes I really do miss those days of being young and gullable enough to worry that your favorite TV hero was in peril...

....ahh how age has jaded my senses.