Things you thought were true, but later found out weren't.

[Dash87]

For example, embarrassingly enough, a few years ago I saw that Mr. Ed (the horse) was played by a zebra without stripes on Snopes.com and believed it (their reason for putting that story up was ironic).

Second, I used the think that Snoopy was the Red Barron, when he's actually hunting the Red Barron.

Finally, on the movie Saving Private Ryan, I thought that the Nazi soldier that killed that guy with the knife was the same guy that they caught originally and that Upham killed at the end. Two different soldiers.

[Newest Reality]

1. That if I worked hard and played the game right

I would end-up financially secure with a great retirement.

That there was liberty and justice for all.

That anybody could be President or anything they wanted to be.

That there would be flying cars by now and I would be living in something like a George Jetson world of empowerment, flying around in my car.

That my country was altruistic and actually wanted to help other countries in need without strings attached, military positioning or as a means for major corporations to make bank.

I think I'll stop, since my list is rather long.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

3. If anyone is to blame for such beliefs, it may be the grammer school teachers. Not to worry, though.

With the privatization-of-the-schools efforts, they'll fix that.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

2. If they're not true...can they be facts?

I used to believe that 'in the end all things worked out for the best'

I now know that 'all things work out for the best that you can make of them'

[Dash87]

4. Ahaha. I realized that too late but was too lazy to edit,

hoping no one would notice.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

5. Sorry!

[Bucky]

6. The thing about Benjamin Franklin and the kite. Dude totally made it up.

It was a convoluted way of saying "fuck off and die" to a guy in the Royal Society in London who was taking credit for Franklin's electricity experiments. Somehow the letter Ben wrote got out into the 18th C scientific circles... and one Russian amateur scientist who attempted a variation on the experiment got struck by lightning and incinerated. Ouch. After he heard about the incident, Franklin quietly disavowed the story.

Recommended book on the subject ==>

[Dash87]

8. I actually never knew that, but it makes sense.

I wonder how many people have actually tried that and got toasted like the Russian scientist?

[Bertha Venation]

11. The Mythbusters showed that Franklin would have been toast.

(I love those guys, even though Savage is irritating.)

[Dash87]

15. I also like the other guy better. I forget his name.

The three sidekicks are also fairly annoying too.

[Aristus]

7. That the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th.

And that we declared our independence that same day.

Virginia's Resolution on Independence was passed by the Continental Congress on July 2nd, 1776. The final wording of the Declaration was approved and adopted by the Congress on the 4th. But nothing was signed for weeks. It was printed sometime between the 4th and the 9th, and read to George Washington's troops on the 9th. The Declaration as we know it, calligraphy on parchment, was produced later in the month of July, and was signed only by John Hancock and Congressional Secretary Thompson around the 1st of August. The rest of the signers put their names on it at irregular intervals after that, some not for years.

[Bucky]

9. Adams's famous advice to celebrate the date with fireworks was about the 2nd of July.

[Aristus]

14. Yeah. Every thing he said came to pass: "Fireworks, speeches, games, observances," etc.

Just on a different date. Within Adams' own lifetime, it had already become tradition to celebrate independence on the 4th, due to header on the Declaration: "In Congress, July 4th, 1776" - meaning the date the official wording of the document was approved and adopted.

Adams must have given up after a while, and just celebrated independence on the 4th, like everyone else. And held out, on his deathbed, for the 4th.

[ohiosmith]

10. Santa Claus!

[darkangel218]

12. God.

Every human being as honest as myself.

Promisses.

The meaning of life.

[Dash87]

13. I never realized how many inventions are incorrectly attributed to Thomas Edison.

He invented very little of them - especially the lightbulb.

[Phentex]

16. I thought Batman was part bat...

you know like Spiderman was bitten by a spider and had spider qualities. My teens only recently told me there was no sort of bat blood or anything in Batman.

I felt totally ripped off.

[cliffordu]

17. The domino theory

I believed we were saving the entirety of Southeast Asia ( and them sweet 'Roos in Australia) from the commies.

Really. I was 17. So sue me.

[Locut0s]

18. That who you are is written in stone.

I'm still trying to unlearn this one.

Actually I've always factually known it not to be true but in my heart of hearts I've always told myself that you are the sum of your experiences and that can't be changed.

It's difficult but I'm coming to learn that it's not true and starting to actually feel it. I'm starting to realize that you really CAN remake yourself into what you want to be. That your experiences don't predetermine what your life will be like. That you can indeed have more than one life, more than one restart. That you can keep going back to square one and each time NOT feel defeated but start anew with the lessons learned from the previous run at it. That the stories of people who find themselves only late in life aren't just stories, there really are people who struggle until their 50s or later before they 'get it'. That maybe I should listen more to that little voice in my head saying "let's drop it all and travel the world!", and not brush it off as mere childish musings. That to fall down and get up, and fall again and again really is growth and not just failure. That maybe even though I don't fit into any of societies cookie cutter lives, maybe there is still SOMEWHERE I DO fit.

I still haven't learned this and I don't quite believe it yet, but I'm starting to see glimmers of its truth.