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Even though it seems counterintuitive, it’s totally human to put our human feelings and emotions onto objects that are incapable of, you know. Feeling anything at all.
Have you ever felt sorry for something that wasn’t alive? Treated it as if it was alive, just in case?
An entire generation who grew up with the Toy Story movies is nodding an emphatic yes – and these 16 people are also ready to admit catching feelings for random inanimate objects as well.
16. I don’t think that’s weird.
Not really weird but when my plushies fall off the bed or down the side between the bed and the wall I feel so guilty.
Same as when I accidentally sit on or roll over onto one of them.
My poor babies D:
15. Emergency surgery.
I love weird gifts, and my brother got me just that once when he took a trip to Greece.
It’s an 8cm tall donkey with 2 little saddle sacks. He has a tiny little bell and orange reins around his head.
I named him Arnulf.
One day I knocked him and accidentally stood on him, breaking the plastic inside his leg, it was holding on purely by a scrap of felt which was glued.
I was mortified, instantly scoured the house for a means to fix and when I couldn’t find one, went to the nearest store which sold superglue and gave him the immediate surgery he needed.
He now proudly sits in front of my work PC monitor to give me good luck when times are dire.
God I love him.
14. That’s not fair.
Computers when someone’s throwing a fit or tantrum over something like a game lag, buffering or general software issues.
Like dude, get angry at the real cause not the hardware that’s essentially just the messenger 🙁
13. If you love your vehicle.
There’s a thing I call “mechanical empathy”… if you emotionally attach to your bike or car you’ll be kinder and more gentle to it.
Some people are really rough on cars and other machinery, it’s painful to drive with them.
12. I want to buy a friendly car.
I always see faces in the cars that drive by.
Some car brands have “angry” faces, while others are more friendly.
11. What a good soldier.
I got a new cellphone not to long ago.
So I transfered everything to my new phone but I didn’t turn off the old phone afterwards.
This happened late on a Sunday and the next morning my old phone still rang to wake me up and I was somewhat sad that it still thought it was my current phone and that it still had the duty to wake me in the morning.
10. Lumpy the pumpkin.
I buy the ugliest pumpkin I can find for Halloween because I don’t want it to be left out. Every year this special pumpkin is named Lumpy.
If I feel compelled I also buy the nicest one I can find (like everyone else) and I give Lumpy a girlfriend.
9. No plushie left behind.
If I see a really ugly plush toy at a thrift store, I feel compelled to buy it because I feel like it will just get thrown away.
So now I have quite a few ugly plushies. I love them.
8. What is the meaning of life?
Sometimes I feel bad for the fruit and vegetables that spent months growing, only for me to buy and then let them rot and go uneaten because I can’t adult and actually eat them.
Which is their whole purpose in life. What was it all for?
7. They probably are, but for other reasons.
All my dollar bills need to face up in my wallet, otherwise I get the feeling those Georges and Lincolns are uncomfortable.
6. Protect the sheep.
In my Catan box I keep the wool cards on top so the sheep can breathe.
Yeah, I’m weird.
5. Hormones are a beast.
I went through the entire five stages of grief once in the middle of high school because I had misplaced this tiny stuffed animal seal beanie baby. I was still going through puberty at the time, so I was dealing with a lot of hormones, and I was under a lot of pressure and stress because I was taking a bunch of AP classes and I was in the honor society. I used this pocket-sized seal to help me study. It was helpful to me to explain the concepts to the tiny seal in much the same way that programmers sometimes use rubber ducks to work out bugs in their code.
And that was great until the end of the year when I tucked the seal into one of the dressers in our guest room and promptly forgot where I had put it. I had been studying in that room at the time, because there were less distractions there, and I wasn’t supposed to have the seal with me, so I tucked it into the drawer to hide it, finished what I was doing, and then went to sleep…
By the time I got home the next day, I couldn’t remember where I’d put it or where my study buddy had gone. I didn’t take it very well. It was embarrassing how deeply this hurt me, and I knew I was being completely irrational and unreasonable, but it still felt like a death to me. Like a close friend had died.
I found the seal in that cabinet years later, despite having searched everything in that room multiple times and all over the house, looking for it. I have no idea how I didn’t find it in there the first time, but I have it now.
Today that little seal sits on a shelf in my room, reminding me that sometimes it’s okay to be attached to inanimate things if they bring us comfort or help us do things.
4. We can’t help ourselves.
I have to “baby proof” my apartment before I run my Roomba because he’ll try to eat things he shouldn’t (cords, rugs, etc) and will get stuck when I’m at work.
I don’t mind that he gets stuck, my apartment isn’t especially dirty, I usually just run him once every week or two out of habit, but I feel bad thinking about him being stuck somewhere when I’m not home and feeling alone and scared.
Fun fact: when customers of Roomba send it in because something’s not working right, they often request their original Roomba back instead of a new one because they’ve bonded with it.
3. We are legion.
I’m 37 and still feel bad for stuffed animals apparently.
I was walking to work one day last week and I saw something on the ground. It was yellow, and I walked over to have a look and it was a little giraffe plushie.
Naturally I thought some little kid probably dropped it, or it was thrown out of a stroller and I felt bad since the kid would probably miss their little buddy. So I picked it up and put it on a bench out of the rain so that if someone lost it, they could find it.
I took a picture of the little plushie on the bench and went to work. I texted my brother about it and his response was basically: “YOU MONSTER! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE THE POOR LITTLE GUY OUTSIDE ALL ALONE! YOU ABANDONED HIM!”
And honestly, I did feel bad leaving the little thing there, but my bro just made me feel 100x worse. So I took an early break to go back and see if the little giraffe was still there. I work downtown in a big city, I found the giraffe in a busy public square so I figured the odds of it still being there were slim. But, when I went back he was right where I left him.
So, I picked him up and took him with me. He sat on my desk for the rest of the day and now sits on a shelf at home.
I’m still a bit conflicted, as I know there’s probably a little kid out there who is worried sick about their wee giraffe. But, don’t worry, I’m taking very good care of him.
2. They’re too beautiful for that.
I hate seeing musical instruments being destroyed in film, TV, concerts etc. Especially for shock value.
Something that can has such potential to create beauty, and to be an outlet for creativity. All while there are young/poor musicians out there who would love to have the chance to own them to create music with them themselves.
I don’t even play! But to me it feels almost like burning books symbolism wise.
1. You can’t treat your bestie like that.
I once slapped my iPad when it was being slow, then instinctively hugged it and apologised afterwards.
I think we’re ok now but the level of trust definitely isn’t what it used to be.
I mean, who among us can claim to never have gotten themselves in deep with an object that can’t really love us back?
Tell us about your sympathies for things that aren’t alive in the comments!
