The most disappointing thing you learned as a kid?

[Belated]

As children, we were filled with curiosity. Not understanding the adult world, always wondering how things work. But as time went on, our parents, teachers, and even other kids, slowly replaced that curiosity with knowledge. Questions were answered. And your creative assumptions about life were slowly knocked down and replaced with the boring truth. Lamps are not magic. Your dad eats the cookies you leave out for Santa Claus. Sometimes the law punishes the wrong people. Credit cards are not magical infinite voids of cash. "Tax" means that you have to pay more money than what's listed on the price tag. You can't hold your piss as long as you thought you could. Firefighting is not a fun job at all. And your parents cannot force other people to be nicer to you.

And slowly but surely, the world became more and more disappointing. Now I wouldn't go as far as to say it sucks. I'm not that pessimistic or cynical, as much as I often claim to be. But the world certainly isn't as cool as you used to believe it was when you were a little kid.

So, I ask you, what is the most disappointing thing you learned about the world when you were a kid?

Spoiler: Mine

I was really disappointed to learn that punching people is against the law. So, not only is it something that those mean ol' teachers make you sit in time-out for doing, (no matter how much that kid was asking for it), but you could also go to jail for it when you grow up. As a little kid, I always assumed as an adult I would be able to solve my biggest problems with people by socking them in the face. I will admit I thought it was a little weird I never saw adults hitting each other in real life, but at the time I just assumed it was because they never thought to do it, and that my idea to assault people was a work of pure inventive genius. But no, hitting is just illegal, as my mom explained to me in the car on the way to school. How lame. Don't worry. I developed a sense of guilt a few years later.

 

[Vangaurd227]

When i heard you needed a license to drive a car....i cried for ages when i heard that....

 

[rutger5000]

When I discovered that my dad is unhappy because of the marriage with my mother.

 

[Tdc2182]

When I was told that guns use bullets.

In my imagination, I thought they held unlimited ammo. It really did crush part of my childhood, knowing that all my war games I had been playing in my head were now un-realistic (I know. I was a strange child)

 

[XIII's Number XIV]

What a mercenary was.

The fact that they only did heroic stuff for money made me lose faith in most of my heroes, Han Solo and Starfox to be exact.

 

[DJDarque]

When I learned that Dr. Seuss drew racist, American propaganda cartoons during World War 2.

 

[Kagobin]

When I learned that no one gives two shit about me or any of my accomplishments.

 

[Frybird]

Learning about the vast impossiblilties that space travel offers. I loved all things Space and NASA and ESA and stuff, but learning about how insanely restricted just about everything in Space is, i disappointedly retreated to Science Fiction.

And how nothing is infinite.

 

[ChupathingyX]

When I learnt that Kenan and Kel and Invader Zim got canceled on Nickelodeon.

 

[Gizmo1990]

When I learnt of the exsistance of Fox news.

 

[BanicRhys]

I guess when I learned that Dragon Ball Z was over.

 

[Fenix7]

When I learned that it won't snow this winter no matter how much I threaten nature by ripping a blade of grass from our garden every day.

 

[Retronana]

Whenever the whole bloody series of Yu-gi-oh restarted on nickelodeon and I had to wait another 5 weeks for a new episode.

 

[derob]

I was extremely disappointed to find out that the definitions of heaven, an afterlife, and even god ultimately depends on your own reasoning and faith.

 

[Mr Thin]

That I was gonna go to hell because I wasn't baptised.

Fortunately I grew out of that.

Nothing else springs to mind; you would think finding out my parents had a shitty marriage would disappoint me, but nah.

 

[Doclector]

That people are bastards, and they like killing anything that's different.

I also learnt that tense music doesn't play when people point knives at you.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Definitely the "there is no Santa" talk. Still, I think the world is much more interesting when you understand it. Its not made of magical rainbow unicorns and raisin bread dragons but sometimes the real world is more interesting.

 

[Gunner 51]

"All good things must come to an end." - On finding out that my old retailer Software Plus no longer sold Amstrad CPC games. Then later Amiga 500+ games and later still Playstation 1 games.

 

[Simeon Ivanov]

I was disappointed that Diablo 3 hasn't come out yet ... that and Santa!