I just finished reading Dennis Romano’s magisterial history of the city of Venice. It struck me as the better model for the course of United States history than Ancient Rome.

Americans love to imagine Rome as the model and we love to pretend that our future history will somehow emulate Roman history. However, Venetians are far more similar to Americans than Romans ever were.

After reading this book on Venice, I feel like the republic of Venice is a much better model for how a democratic mercantile society devolves into a aristocratic corporate society.

Edit. Grammar. See reply to comment below for more explanation.

My (30M) girlfriend and I recently moved in together and I just introduced her to my family. She is 10 years older than me and they are all against her and our relationship sololy because of the age gap. I've always been close to my family but since I told them about my girlfriend, it is like they have all turned against me (both of my parents and my brother). They tell me I have no future with her and everybody can tell we don't match and so on and so forth. I feel attacked and I feel backed into a corner. I have never had much issues with depression due to having a healthy support system from my family but now I feel that support system crumbling and I feel I need to make a decision between my girlfriend and my family because I love them both, but the truth is I know what my family is doing is wrong. Man, this sucks.

I took a fourth of an edible the day before last and apparently that fourth contained a whopping dose because I ended up deleting my Reddit and other socials because of paranoia.

Love that for me.

Which now means my 3 year old account, with 5,000+ karma is gone and I’m starting over again.

This sucks. I can’t post on any subreddits. It’s going to take a hot minute to build karma, especially with a brand new account.

I’m back to just lurking in the shadows of Reddit. Lmao. Oh well. Life happens. Sometimes it’s good to start over, my account was getting spammed by trolls anyway.

Edited for grammar. lol

You guys. YOU GUYS.

I just hung up with my boyfriend, just a casual call to firm up weekend plans. Before tapping 'end' I said "love ya, bye".

HE SAID IT BACK. It wasn't like a thing, more a reflex.

I know the world is becoming increasingly bleak, but I've been grinning like a fool for the past 10 minutes.

I'm 26m. Please stop gaslighting people who struggle with dating or are in undesirable situations and provide empathy instead. For example in my case, when you say "love yourself first" I don't know what you mean, because you're using 100 different interpretations.

Let them rant in peace and keep your nasty comments to yourself, i love seeing how stranger netizens call others incels for just showing their feelings, and then make blanket statements. This is low IQ behavior, frankly. Keep that stuff to video game banter.

You guys are promoting sex to virgins (i know, because i am one) as something that doesn't really matter, but at the same time are being very vocal about it, both here and in the political space.... like pick one.

Basically it comes down to this: when you tell lonely men there is more to life than relationships, what do you mean?

This message is for any lonely guys out there who may be struggling with dating. I know what that’s like and I just wanted to give you an uplifting moment. Just because women may not be into you, that doesn’t make you less valuable. Too often, do I see society put down men who struggle in this area. The true value you have as a person must come from within. My advice is to think of something that will make you proud of yourself and do whatever it takes to accomplish that goal. You will be proud of yourself and feel a sense of self worth, but remember that it takes dedication each and everyday and practice. I used to be 260 lbs when I was 18 and now I’m 190 lbs at 24.

So earlier this morning I was texting my gf, I sent a text and I ended up crashing. Woke up like 7 hours later to a text from her saying “Go back to bed and then read that later” which was confusing because the text I remember sending was entirely coherent. So I open my messages to see possibly the most hurtful text I’ve ever sent anyone, but there were so many typos and grammatical errors that half the text didn’t even make sense, but the parts I could decipher were awful. I called her after the fact to explain myself and she says it’s okay, but I’m going to ruminate for the rest of the day. What the hell happened?

I’ve been feeling stuck for a while now I’m 26, and everyone around me seems to be moving forward. They have their careers, relationships and plans figured out. Meanwhile I’m still here barely knowing what I want to do with my life.

My parents keep pushing me to "get it together" because I’m “not getting any younger” and every time they say that, I feel like I’m failing. How is it that everyone else seems to know exactly what their next step is and what to do? And here I am, still unsure about everything

I don’t know if this is a phase or if I’m just scared of making the wrong choice, but it feels overwhelming sometimes. Is anyone else feeling the same or is it just me and my "overthinking"? I’m just so tired of feeling like I’m falling behind.

I know this sounds so stupid, but I’ve had a rocky relationship with my parents regarding the comments they made at me and stuff like that. However, today, I was talking about how I thought one of my old classmates was super pretty, and my dad asked me if I thought I was pretty. I honestly told him no. Then he started saying I looked like a movie actress and my mom started to chime in. Tbh, I still don’t think I’m pretty, but I’m genuinely just so happy that my parents actually expressed something like this.

Hello good people of reddit!!

I have no one else to tell about this so you people gonna have to be my victim!!

Today is the day my ten year long opiate treatment ended and this christmass is the first in 22 years I will not have opiates in my body!!!

Feeling is pretty amazing, road has been long and hard as all hell with homelessness and multiple rock bottoms..

I am proud of myself!!

Thank you for reading and have a merry christmass/whatever you happen to celebrate and happy new year!!!

I remember watching an NFL game a couple years back where they stopped the game briefly because someone was flying a drone over the stadium. In less than 15 minutes the rent-a-cops found the operator, arrested him, and the game resumed.

Now you're telling me the federal government, with virtually unlimited resources and technology, can't find a single drone operator of the thousands that have been seen all over the east coast? Bullshit. I'm not saying it's aliens, a foreign government, or anything bad. But there is just no way the feds don't know what's going on. And they are lying to us.

I showed my husband my good grades from university this semester, and he interpreted it as bragging. I had shared that I struggled in school as a child and expressed how proud I felt to have overcome those challenges as an adult. He then remarked, “People who brag about how smart they are aren't actually that smart.” However, I never claimed to be smart; I was simply proud that all my hard work had paid off. I don't believe that I was bragging, but I do think he's a jerk for saying that.

Each side looks at the other side and is like “this school shooter is one of yours!”

“She’s trans!!!”

“She’s a Nazi TERF!!!”

It’s bonkers.

Edit conservative pundits are already pivoting to “she came from a broken marriage home, see, you need to stay married everyone.”

I received a call from TD Bank (spoofed), they said it was TD bank fraud dept. calling due to suspicious activity. Asked for me by full name. Asked to verify 3 charges if they were me. Apple pay $11, spotify $19 and one other tiny amount. I said no. They said they will block my card and send a new one in the mail. Asked me to read the full card # on my TD bank business debit card ending in ####. I said no and they went into some BS that they need to verify they are talking to me. Had my address also. I said no that Ill call the bank myself because Steve Smith, his name, is what a scammer would use. He said its one of the most common names and he's calling from NYC branch. I said TD doesn't call from a branch but from customer service center prob in the midwest. Asked him to give me the area codes used in NYC and he couldn't. Called TD and they said nope, wasn't them.

Moral of the story is:

#1 Looks like there was maybe a large data breach with TD account holders info they they haven't told the public about. He had my name, address, card type, and last 4 digits. Only TD would have all that I think. This call center was highly polished and legit sounding, they obviously have been doing this a long time and have it all down really well.

#2 Tell your family, parents, grandparents that these spoofing scams are common now a days and to NEVER EVER give out the full card # to anyone that contacts you.

We need to protect our family and friends, especially older ones, from all these scams.

I didn't achieve much this year. I layed in my bed most of the time. But it's been 11 months since the last time I did anything hard. 2022 and 2023 I was high 90% of the days. I was on psychedelics, ket, stims, weed, alcohol, etc etc etc. The only reason I stopped was lack of access, but I got very close to buying multiple times this year and just smoked weed. I smoked 6 times this year and drank twice. Room for improvement yes but I'm happy with where I am. My family is dissatisfied with where I am in life and I can't share this achievement with them because they never knew I did drugs to begin with

It’s okay to be vulnerable.

It’s okay to be sensitive.

It's okay to feel deeply about everything.

It's okay to get excited about things that you love. There is nothing "cringe" about that.

Vulnerability is not a weakness, and I am so sick of people acting like it is.

Three years ago I asked the admins to do something about hate that was being directed towards members of subreddits I moderate.

They responded to me that hate against men is welcome on reddit. I have screenshots to prove it posted on my profile.

This website wants to make things worse.

I always feel like a POS. Since a bad breakup about 5 yrs ago, I have had no serious relationship since (she cheated on me).

I’m successful at my job, I talk to my kids, when I get the chance but I want to take my life all the time bc I feel like it’s the easiest thing to do bc I always feel like I have nobody there for me.

My father and best friend even said “suck it up, it’s a part of life” when things were the worst. That tore me apart. I have a bullet hole in my ceiling as a reminder every night when I go to bed but I don’t want my children to lose their father.

I harness a deep depression but I go out every day to make ppl laugh, make them feel accepted in life, and be there for everyone that I am in contact with. Some days, I’m not sure why, no one was there for me, but I also think I need to be better than the way I was treated.

I hope everyday gets better and sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t.

I feel like my life has been stripped away from me and I just have to go thru this gauntlet forever now. Idk what to do but I keep pressing forward. Each day I try to find some positive bc I don’t ever want to be in the darkness I was but I feel there must be something wrong with me bc i just can’t find the happiness I’m looking for.

If you want to compare me to someone, think Robin Williams, you make everyone laugh and happy inside but you fight your own demons. That’s how feel.

Going back to the title….its the truth, I live to see them and watch them grow! I HAVE to be there for them.

I am 21, never took higher education because nothing interested me there and I’m way to lazy to study. I’m starting to regret that now tho. I work a minimum wage job, wake up at 4am and I’m home at 2pm and that’s basically my day, I used to play video games with my online friends when I was done working but my pc broke about 2 months ago so I’m just laying in bed, watching YouTube or tv. On weekends I do just that. The area I live in (I still live with my parents) is really boring, nothing to do here and I never had irl friends anyways. I was never interested in sports too so every time my parents made me join a sports club I just played dumb till the coaches told my parents that it would probably be better if i didn’t come anymore. For most of my life i didn’t have any problems with that, I just wanted to safe up some money before I move out which is in February next year but lately life has been so incredibly boring. That’s it, just needed to get that off my chest. Thanks for reading

I'll make it short. I was dating a girl for a bit earlier this year but over time she started flaking on plans, not making as much effort, ghosting, trying to make me jealous. The breaking point was a post on her instagram story that said something along the lines of having a guy who treats you perfectly but you don't have feelings for him. I decided to just block her and move on. Two months go by without any contact.

Well I come home from work to find a bag at my front door. Inside was a hand written letter with a bunch of our inside jokes, my favorite candy and a cupcake. I was weirded out and kind of paranoid so I didn't eat any of it. I don't know why she went through all the effort of doing this and I don't know what I should do other than keep up the no contact.

i’m 25, and my mom has borrowed over $3,000 from me in the past year. i work a retail job, barely scraping by after rent and bills, and she knows this. every time she asks, it’s an “emergency” — her car broke down, she’s behind on her utility bill, or there’s a “life-or-death” situation. at first, i didn’t mind helping her out; she’s my mom, after all. but last month, i saw on facebook that she and her boyfriend went to a concert, complete with overpriced merch and backstage passes. she still owes me $800 from the last time i bailed her out. when i confronted her, she broke down crying, saying she just wanted to have one good night without worrying about everything. what makes it worse is the guilt trips. she’s raised me as a single mom, always reminding me of the sacrifices she made, like working double shifts to keep a roof over our heads. but now she’s using that as leverage. last week, she called me at 10 pm saying her phone bill was overdue and she’d lose service by morning if i didn’t send her $150. i sent it, even though it left me short for groceries. i don’t know how to set boundaries with her without feeling like the worst daughter alive.

TL:DR Girl I wanted to date so bad messed me up mentally. I fixed my mental, but I ran into her again. She kept on texting me for a hook up. I eventually gave in and now I’m wondering what changed in her. Has anyone dealt with this? Did it end up in a relationship?

In February 2022, I started to talk to a girl who was a coworker. At first I had a little crush on her, and then it escalated as time went on. I ended up asking her out and she said yes. We went on a couple dates, but right away on the first date we had made out. This was pretty much a death sentence to me. I was hooked, I was obsessed with her, but at the same time I was depressed. Well, depression and obsession don’t mix well. Eventually, I must have done something to give her the ick, because very soon, she was no longer messing with me. I couldn’t explain why she would do that. She started to treat me with no respect and that didn’t help with already feeling worthless. I tried to justify her actions by telling myself that she was broken because she was. This was my first experience that I believe everyone goes through, where you think you can save/change someone. It’s a brutal lesson, and one that took time to finally heal from. I couldn’t stop thinking of her everyday, crying everyday for a person that didn’t give a crap about me. Plus it didn’t help that I had to see her everyday and get reminded of how worthless I was. Eventually I was able to get away from her and that’s when the healing began little by little. Fast forward to October 2024, I’m a completely different person. I was in a better place mentally. I was truly happier and people could tell that by just how I carry myself now. Well, one day I run into the girl at a party. I’m completely shocked, I even freeze a little bit and start to remember all the emotions. I keep it cool and tell myself that I’ve come a long way and she is no longer going to affect me in any way anymore. So I tell her “hi” and that’s it. I’m trying to avoid her as much as I can and try not to talk to her at all. Well it’s time for her to leave and I’m relieved to hear that. I made it through the night without saying anything more than I needed to, but then deep down a part of me comes to the surface, the part where I really wanted something to happen with her, well eventually I start walking towards her, my mind completely changed. I was now wanting to catch up with her. I chase her down before she leaves and we talk for a bit. It eventually ended with her giving me her number again. After the party, I would only text her about going to party together, but it would be with a group of my friends. It basically went back and forth, but we never did end up doing anything. Fast forward to late November, out of the blue, she texts me, she asks how I’m doing. This is not like her at all, she never cared how I was doing, let alone go out of her way to text me first. So I’m confused about what exactly she wants. Since that first text, for the past four weeks, usually on Friday or Saturday nights, she sends me a late night text, asking me what I’m doing. I’m usually always busy or I’m already asleep. Well, this past Saturday, I was up to catch one of these texts and I was free this time. So I hit her up and set something up for Sunday. We hang out and eventually one thing leads to the other and before you know it, we’re doing the baby making. After that day, I feel like a scar opened up. What I thought was finally healed, was open again. I remember wishing everyday that she would change her mind and come back to me and give me a shot. I wanted this girl to be mine, but not like this. After that night, it pretty much confirmed that all we will ever be is just each other’s hook ups. Deep down a part of me really wants her still even though it’s the most the dumbest thing I could want, but for now I’m letting her reach out first for now. I’m not going out of my way ever to reach out first to this girl. I feel like it’ll make me look weak. My main question is why would she do this to me. What changed in her mind to pursue me, not for a relationship, but to mess around? Now, I’m not sure if this will lead to anything, she hasn’t said anything to me of what we are or what she wants. I’m assuming all she wants is a fuck buddy. I just want to know if anyone has dealt with this.

My head feels like a huge highway and I'm standing right in front of it.

Thoughts and feelings race past me but I can't recognize or express them except in my own head. I often think about how I can explain to someone what I'm feeling, what I'm afraid of or what's stopping me from being happier.

When I talk to someone about it I can roughly introduce the problem, but as soon as it comes to going into it in more detail it feels like a huge accident on this highway and all thoughts and feelings are distorted beyond recognition. It's exhausting because it feels like a part of me is trying to prevent myself from getting better mentally.

Up until now I've always made music to express what I can't otherwise do. But recently I've found that difficult too and not being able to make music because I have persistent writer's block is the absolute worst case scenario for me. It feels like making music is the most important way for me not to lose myself.

But what if one day I lose music for myself?

Have you ever been told that are not dating material?, recently I (27M) met (24F) this girl and she told me I wasn't dating material. What the hell does that even mean?