"I Didn't Ask To Be Born" — People Are Sharing The Saddest Thing They've Heard A Child Say, And It'll Shatter Your Heart Into A Million Pieces

Recently, I came across this thread on Quora that broke my heart but provided a lot of good reminders. Here are some of the saddest things people have heard children say:

1. "I was at the park with my two sons one day. They were around five and six. I remember giving them snacks and cheering for them when they showed me one of their 'look what I can do' moves. It was nothing fancy or over the top, just a regular day at the park. Then, a little boy around the same age as my children approached me and asked, 'Why are you so nice to them?' I told him because they are my kids and I love them. He said, 'Are you always that nice to them?' I said yes, I’m their mom. He then looked incredibly sad, gave me a hug, and ran off. I pray for him all the time."

— Abigail Anna Isreal , Quora

2. "We got custody of my stepson 12 years ago when his mom decided to leave him in a hotel room, alone with a German Shepard at six years old to go get drunk. She subsequently got arrested, he got taken into CPS custody and we got him. He never saw her again, just to give you a backstory. Anyway, my son doesn’t say much about his 'mom.' She passed away in 2014 due to chronic alcoholism. One day, driving home from school, he just nonchalantly tells me,' I remember someone putting cigarettes out on my arm.' I was flabbergasted..."

"I said, 'That hasn’t happened since you’ve been with me.' He said, 'Oh no, you and my dad didn’t do it.' Then he just went back to talking about school, like nothing happened. If I could bring someone back from the dead to kick their ass, I would have done it to kick hers that day."

— Dawn Riggie , Quora

3. "When my daughter was in fourth grade, she became friends with a new girl (let's call her Ashley). Ashley was cute as a button with the most infectious smile. However, Ashley had a habit of peeing herself during class. At first, the other students were quiet, but she was eventually teased. After the principal met with her parents, Ashley had no more accidents. Many months later, I asked Ashley how she was doing. She mumbled something and looked away. I didn't press the question, but I could tell something I said triggered some sadness. Later, I asked my daughter about it and she told me Ashley's parents made her wear PullUps. She told my daughter she had to wear them because 'Clive broke her bladder.' A relative from her mother’s side lived with them and had been sexually molesting Ashley for years. One day, he went too far and destroyed her bladder."

"Her mom found her hemorrhaging. She was removed from her home and went to live with her dad and stepmom in our town and that's why, despite surgeries, whenever her bladder starts to get full, she has zero control. I begged my daughter not to breathe a word about it to a soul, to be a good friend to Ashley, and if anyone even tries to touch her inappropriately, to make sure I am the first person she tells."

— Cara Edmonds , Quora

4. "My beautiful, clever, and funny little girl developed anorexia when she was 11. Her life was in danger, so we spent six weeks admitted to the hospital. She was attached to all sorts of cardiac monitors, had daily blood tests, and spent six weeks on a nano-gastric tube. She was bed-bound for the first week and then allowed to visit the toilet in a wheelchair. At first, she refused to eat at all for two days. After a time, with medication and constant help from the nurses and doctors, she realized that she would not be released until she had gained a certain amount of weight. She was absolutely terrified of food and gaining weight, but over the weeks, she managed to force herself to gain a small amount, and we were allowed to go home..."

"I knew that we still faced an enormous battle for her life but, naively, thought the worst was behind us. Having been away from our teenage son for these weeks, I took the opportunity to take him to his soccer match in the morning after my daughter and I arrived home. My husband was with our daughter at home. She quietly slipped out of the house and took our canoe out into the middle of a body of water, which laps up to our backyard. It was mid-winter, and she paddled out to the middle. She was sitting there when my husband realized she was missing and dashed out to get her back. She told me later that, even in the hospital, when I thought she was improving so that she could come home, she was only eating so she could come home one last time before she killed herself. The depth of pain and subterfuge just felled me. Childhood mental illness is utterly devastating."

—Anonymous, Quora

5. "In the news, I read about a man who had entered an electrified swimming pool to save his daughter and subsequently died from electrocution. His daughter survived. My 5-year-old son looked wide-eyed as I read the report to my wife. Silence overtook the room for a moment, and then, in a still, small voice, he said, 'Daddy, would you die for me?' 'Yes, of course,' I said. Tears welled up in his baby-brown eyes before my son said, 'I would die for you, too.' Needless to say, I swept him into my arms and broke down."

— Aaron H. , Quora

6. "I raised my now 21-year-old grandson for most of his childhood. He was a little quirky and had sensory issues. He did not like to be touched very much. He would let me massage his back before falling asleep but he didn't like hugs. His other grandparents and dad seemed to take this as rejection, and I couldn't explain it to them. One afternoon, after a good visit, his dad reached out, grabbed the boy, and gave him a bear hug. For most kids this would be a good thing, but not for my grandson. He fought off his dad and was scolded for it...ruining the visit. A couple of weeks later, my grandson's father died suddenly. I hoped that the end of that last visit would be forgotten, but I really knew better. One night before bed, he quietly said, 'I wish I liked hugs.'"

— Janet A. , Quora

7. "'Mom?' 'Yeah?' 'Daddy made me wake up last night. He kissed me and said he loves me and I woke up and then he left. But I fell asleep again.' I said, 'He loves you more than anything else in the world. Now brush your teeth. Time for school.' That was the last kiss from his dad my child ever got. Later that same night, this loving dad committed suicide — it had been a goodbye kiss. We didn't know it until that day’s school was almost out."

— Marion Cannon , Quora

8. "I was visiting a poverty-stricken area in a Mumbai suburb in 2012. I was doing an independent study to assess the impact of poverty on kids. I was going from house to house chatting with the families. These people were REALLY poor, barely making ends meet. As I walked the streets door to door, I noticed a small, sad, cute-looking girl (around six years of age) following me without much clothing. When I took a lunch break, I conversed with the little girl. What happened next led me to question my own existence. Here is the conversation:

" Me : What is your name? Where do you live?

Girl: My parents call me Bulbul. I live six houses down the road.

She stopped talking at this point. I urged her to tell me her story, so I sat her on my lap, gave her candy, and urged her to continue.

Girl: I have a brother at home. He is four years old. Ten days ago, my dad passed away of starvation because he could not get enough food for all of us. It was enough for my mum, myself, and my brother, but not for him. He went without food for several days, living on water but making sure he fed us. After he died, we were left with no one to take care of us. However, upon hearing the news of the death of my father, several families from the neighborhood sent us food three times a day for a week, and then the food STOPPED coming. Now, we are starving again with no food for the past two days.

So, at this point, I asked her what her family was going to do.

Her reply shook me.

Girl: I am waiting for my brother to die so my mum and I can be fed by the neighbors. After that food is finished, I will die so the neighbors can bring food to feed my mom.

This is from a six-year-old."

— Zack J. , Quora

9. "When I was young, I joined a charity at a cancer hospital, the kids’ department. My job was just visiting the kids, bringing donated books, reading with them, drawing with them, and playing with them. One afternoon, I visited the kids as usual and noticed one kid wasn’t playing. He just sat there, looking out of the window. I approached him and asked if he was okay. His sad eyes looked at me, then gazed out of the window again. I followed his gaze and saw a man and a woman seemingly arguing about something. The conversation seemed heated. In a soft and weak voice, he said, 'They fight because of me.' Then he turned back to me and asked, 'Why was I born like this? I didn’t ask to be born.' It took all my strength to hold back tears while I hugged him."

— Blue , Quora

10. "I fostered a 7-year-old girl for what was to be one day. The plan was for her to appear in court the next day to give witness to what her mother’s boyfriend had done to her. The expectation was that she would then be returned to her mother with the boyfriend out on his ear. When she returned, she told me she had to live with me because her mother loved the boyfriend more and wouldn’t kick him out of their house. Since the living arrangements with the father were complicated, she couldn’t go there yet, so she would have to be with strangers. She asked me if I knew why her mother would do such a thing, and I struggled to give her an answer. I said, 'Even grownups get confused about what is important.' She cried on my shoulder until she was exhausted."

"We managed well, and she was returned to her father in six months. We discovered she did not need the classes for children who were developmentally disabled. Her life got significantly better, but the scar from her mother’s rejection stayed for a long time."

— Carol Henig , Quora

11. "'Don't cry, ma. I know, and I am ready...' These were words spoken by a 5-year-old girl under my care when I worked in a Paediatric Oncology ward a few years ago. She was a Beta Thalassemia Major patient. She was a real cutie. I can still remember her curly hair and friendly smiles, and she was always very talkative on her good days. She had undergone two bone marrow transplants but came back with recurrent complications from the procedures. We tried our best, but she was dying...and she knew it. We were on the verge of crying when we did our morning review that day and heard her comforting her parents. She passed away peacefully in her sleep after weeks of fighting."

— Bella H. , Quora

12. "My parents died 52 days apart, my dad, then my mom. Grief consumed me. My husband and I had three married daughters and two grandchildren. Carson, seven, and Lilly, three. Up until that moment in life, having my share of sadness, I'd never experienced grief so totally encompassing. On the day of my mom's funeral, our grandson sat next to me in the church. He grabbed my hand and said, 'Nana, can I switch hearts with you? I'm younger, and maybe I can stop your sadness with my heart.'"

— Michelle Clark Bruce , Quora

13. "A photographer captured a picture of this little girl from Syria. When he took her photo, she immediately put her hands up. She thought the camera was a gun, so she raised her hands in the air, surrendering herself. She is too young to know anything about guns and surrender, but the war made her learn that."

— Hadmat Singh Rajput , Quora

14. "I have a neighbor who shouts at his kids a lot. The other day, this neighbor's kids (Marco and Mindy), rang my doorbell and said, 'Marco threw his monster ball on your balcony. We want to get it if you won't be angry?' Me: 'Of course I won't be angry. Come in.' Mindy: 'Are you really not angry?' Me: 'No.'" Mindy repeated asking questions about Charlotte (the original poster) being mad, wondering why she wouldn't be. After Charlotte reassured them she wouldn't get mad, Mindy flung into her arms. "I didn't even know her before this. There's no saying exactly what the background is, but I found it sad."

— Charlotte N. , Quora

15. "I was ice fishing with a friend. A family pulled up and asked if it was okay to fish near us. We said sure. It was a busy day on the lake, and people were crowded together. They had two young children with them. The older one, a girl, was pretty shy, but the younger one started talking. He said, 'I live with [my] Grandpa and Grandma. Momma had too much water to drink, and she had to go to jail for a while.'"

— Matt Lein , Quora

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.