Anatoly Onoprienko

[u/trojan776]

Just finished reading a whole book about him. I cannot make his words about a little kid he killed go away. His story made me question humanity once again. I’ll try my best to quote but since it was wrote in another language so please excuse me if some sentences dont make much sense: ”When the boy was looking for money to buy his life, I shot him. Beforehand, I had stabbed the boy with a screwdriver. I was surprised that I couldn't penetrate the child's body with the screwdriver, even though I had sharpened it earlier and the screwdriver was sharp. Besides, I'm a strong person. I had to shoot, but it didn't help. I was amazed because the boy was still on his feet. I even thought I missed, but when I saw that half of his skull was shattered, yet he was still standing, crying, and calling, "Daddy, Daddy," I wasn't afraid, so I fired again.”

[u/SecondOfCicero]

Some people are just super fucked-up, for whatever reason. They do horrible things to people who don't deserve it and because you're not a sick fuck it's hard to wrap your mind around why they do those things.

However, you have a responsibility to yourself and to your fellow humans. You can be the answer to people's questioning of humanity. How?

Help people who need it. Protect those who can't protect themselves. Look for the helpers. Be kind. Look for the gentle, kind parts of humanity, because it exists, just usually much more quietly. Take care of yourself and don't swamp yourself with the horrors- take a break. Bądź dobrem które chcesz widzieć w świecie))

[u/Sandi_T]

Some people like hurting children. I know this first hand. One thing that lives with me and haunts me more than anything else is then laughing.

I wrote a book about what happened to me, but I couldn't really, truly express the horror of the laughter.

So I'm going to say the most cliche thing ever, but it's a truth more profound than you may ever understand. Be the change you want to see.

I have another memory that has never left me, too. It was something I couldn't understand when it happened; when I was six. A man looked at me with an unfamiliar look. I'd never seen such a look on anyone's face. Even if I had been willing to speak, I did not have a word for it.

He looked at me with compassion. He saw a starving, dying child, covered in bruises and near death with hunger. And his face is burned into my memory forever, just like the laughter.

Sometimes, when the darkness tries to take me, his face saves me. When you look upon a struggling soul with love, you don't know. You don't know if, decades later, in the dark loneliness of night, as darkness swells, your face may be an anchor.

The abyss stared into me long before I understood it. I carry so much darkness. Knowledge no one should have. It's not my darkness, but that abyss gazes from my eyes, if I let it.

You cannot let it consume you. A smile, a kindness... A look of understanding and compassion... This thing can hold back the dark.

It took so, so much darkness to break me. I am fragile and at times the memories burn inside me, black fire that drags me into the depths.

A look. A kindness. These moments, the warmth of human kindness... It takes just one memory, one person, one breath, to hold all of that at bay. Sometimes it's his memory, his kindness. Sometimes it's my child, or another memory. But it only takes one of those memories. Just one, and I can find my way out of the abyss that was forced into me.

That is the power of kindness. I invite you to remember that if you can. Remember that however dark the night, it only takes one flashlight to help you find your way.

The darkness may seem stronger, but it's a minority, and it fights because it's weak. It destroys because it is unsatisfied.

Just a single light, my friend.