When I was little I tortured lizards and I feel absolutely horrible now. How do I overcome this guilt?

I think that kids should be taught from a very young age that being cruel to anything is a very bad thing, just like how every kid is taught that stealing or hurting people is wrong.

i definitely agree. i feel awful about those roly polys to this day and while i dont feel like direct experience is also necessary for life lessons kids sometimes need to feel some shit and sorrow. idk i just feel really sorry

Oh man do I feel you. I feel like it's not drilled into kids heads enough that hurting living things is wrong. The guilt of killing or maiming animals only comes after the child grows and gains a moral compass, not directly after what they've done. By the time they feel guilty they will already know better, which is why it's so important to teach them beforehand.

im old enough to start thinking about starting my own family now and it terrifies me thinking about how to teach my fture kids about how to value the sanctity of life. this whole conversation rmeinds me of this korean kino i saw called spring summer fall winter and spring again. would highly recommend

youtube.com/watch?v=gXyxi-jnKxw

holy shit that trailer was awful but i def recommend the film itself

I also hate how children are taught there are "good" and "bad" bugs. That it's somehow deserves to be killed because it's ugly or can bite. Some circumstances are okay like if it bit you but if it's not bothering anyone then killing it is very bad.

I was very mean to toads when i was little. I used to toss them in the air and watch them fall like a psychopath. I regret it too OP

Attached: 1526683028318.jpg (1912x1128, 751K)

Become a veterinarian specializing in lizards.

Well if it makes you feel better they cant feel pain.

fwiw as long as you werent taking real pleasure in the toad splatting and you were just a kid who liked throwing shit youre not a bad guy user

>That it's somehow deserves to be killed because it's ugly or can bite.
Sorry commie, but literally all mosquitos deserve to be exterminated from the face of the earth.

>How do I overcome this guilt?

The part of your brain that allows you to feel empathy doesn't develop until fairly late. Accept that when you were a kid, you were literally incapable of understanding what you were doing. Most kids do this sort of thing.

You feel bad now, but these feelings serve no purpose other than to beat yourself up. The child version of you literally no longer exists; though you have memories from that time, you are actually a completely different person and you don't need to live with this guilt. Acknowledge that it may as well have been another life and consciously forgive yourself. You may wish to say out loud, 'I'm no longer that person and I forgive myself.'

Teach your kids that if you treat just one animal poorly it can cause you a lifetime of guilt. That way they'll abstain from hurting things for their own sake as well. Kinda like how parents convince kids to stay away from drugs because it'll fuck them up.

All parasites need to die. I do not fucking understand how someone could not feel the urge to kill the thing that's harming them, like a leech

Okay mosquitoes get a pass on the dont kill list. Those things spread disease and their bite is the most annoying thing on earth. If they all died right now it would make almost no difference to the ecosystem. I'm talking about things like moths and bees/wasps. They may be considered ugly or dangerous but each plays an important role and definitely doesn't deserve death.

If it's harming you then you have every right to kill it. Parasites also get a pass on the don't kill list.

I watched kids pull the wings and limbs off of cicadas before crushing them just because they were "ugly"

Huh.. I never thought of it that way. This actually makes me feel a lot better. Thank you man, maybe I can go to sleep tonight now. :')

In kindergarten I brought my teacher a ladybug that I found during recess. She threw it on the ground and crushed it because it was a bug

But they should be killed quickly and in a relatively humane way.

Yo what?? That's pretty psycotic especially since it was a well known harmless bug. In front of a child too? Awful.

I remember harshly dunking poor little frogs in the pool thinking it was funny. The chlorine must've been agonizing..

Thank god I grew up, but people REALLY need to teach kids about the importance of all life.

Yeah I think I was like 5. It really was a shocking moment for me and that's probably why i still remember it now lol

>be 3
>like combing dog
>hit him with comb for 5 mins
>finally snaps
>growls and pushes me (doesnt bite or anything) away
>parents think he's dangerous and give him away
so sorry bob the dog

Did she at least apologize after she did that?

That really sucks, but at least they didn't kill him.

When i was 5 I used to poke my dogs eyes when they were closed pretty hard (the dog would just get up and leave when I did) and the dog retaliated by pooping and peeing around my bed or in my room. My parents got rid of him for this but it's kinda funny to look back on.

Nope. She never even mentioned it afterwards, and i didn't question her about it

What I mean by "got rid of" means they gave him to someone else thank god.

Well that's kinda sick wtf. Who in the right mind kills a kids ladybug???

Is this the most wholesome thread this site has ever seen? love you OP, you sound like an alright guy to me.

I terrorized and beat my grandmas dogs, vivisected toads, frogs, lizards, etc. I liked dropping lizards and frogs off the second story of our apartment until they died. I also liked feeding them alive to ants. My dad used to beat my mom a lot as a kid and I was constantly terrified. Maybe I did it for a sense of control or to relieve stress. Not really sure but the desire to hurt and torture things is still there. But I don't do it because I know it's wrong

No real point in beating yourself up over it as long as you realize your mistake.

Attached: Cremation+Diamonds+Cost.png (750x750, 41K)

Thank you user :') I really want to right the wrongs I brought upon innocent creatures.

Direct your feelings to hurt things to the internet. Find a type of person online that you despise and cyberbully/spam them until they surrender. I like to do this to SJWs on tumblr with nazi like mentalities. If they have an user option then that's even better. In the course of a year I've made 2 assholes delete their accounts (they haven't resurfaced), 3 people leave their fandoms, and 10 people take down their ask boxes indefinitely. It's very satisfying.

That way you won't hurt anything that doesn't deserve it.

And yeah you're totally right, I should stop beating myself up for stuff I can't change and didn't know any better.