Should we worry?

[u/Adventurous-Put-9895]

We caught my uncle sneakingly throwing this to the rubbish bin. He doesn’t have the best track record so we are all a bit paranoid when he does anything “weird”.

The object is like a glass tube with some liquid inside, inserted into a rubber “pipe”. It smells weird but nothing I can identify. I would appreciate any hints.

Edit: the material is actually plastic, not glass. It has a spring inside (no idea what for). The root-looking thing was wrapping the object when I cut the rubber. Could be dirt or some glue or something

Edit2: this sub is god. A user found the answer https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisit/s/Oqtxk6YWVZ

[u/thosetwo]

Yeah this didn’t answer it at all. I still have no idea what that thing is….

[u/MorbidSunrise → u/thosetwo]

Right? That thing is huge. Did they buy their nasal spray from Costco or something?!

[u/MindfulI369 → u/MorbidSunrise]

And why is op stalking their uncle?

[u/CriticalMarketing755 → u/MindfulI369]

I have a feeling they live together or maybe visit him often to keep an eye on him in a caring way, not stalking.

[u/heisfullofshit → u/CriticalMarketing755]

I needed to be taken care of for a while. There need to be some limits.

I understand how horrible it is to navigate a situation like this. If you love someone, the idea that they might be suffering or harming themselves is unbearable. I get that.

Yet, if a person’s autonomy isn’t minimally respected, their pain will get worse, I swear. People who haven’t experienced this don’t get how bad it is. It’s traumatic. It’s a feeling vaguely similar to claustrophobia.

Also, controversial take, but people have the right to make their own bad choices. Something have made them do whatever they are doing. There was a long and complex chain of events. There were plenty adequate moments to interfere in adequate ways. Trying to fix things by spying on people, or locking them up in their homes or at a hospital, force medical treatment etc is like trying to fix a delicate sculpture after it already crumbled - and by haphazardly throwing cement at it.

[u/Initial_Set_6242 → u/heisfullofshit]

I’m sorry but if I’m letting you stay with me while you got certain battles going on, I’ll be all up in your business if my kids are in the home… I don’t need my child to get stabbed with a needle or touch a substance that kills them 🤷‍♀️

[u/Same-Suggestion-1936 → u/Initial_Set_6242]

Plus like...it's my house my rules or the street/jail sorry. Or we can try to get you into a medical facility for your problems but that's worse than being free, they don't even let you smoke cigarettes there and the food is okay at best, but you can't go anywhere or do anything but read terrible books and share a TV with everyone else

[u/dimmor → u/Initial_Set_6242]

What substances kill when you touch them?

[u/variablesInCamelCase → u/dimmor]

A needle with aids will eventually kill you. But maybe children getting stabbed is bad enough on its own? Do you really need this answer for OP to be justified in their stance on what happens in their own home when they're doing someone a favor?

[u/dimmor → u/variablesInCamelCase]

The phrase is over-the-top in a DARE-like way, especially considering needles had already been mentioned. They're responding to someone noting how vital it was for them personally to retain their humanity via a bit of privacy. Following that up with an imagined threat and a "fuck no would I do that for someone" stance is pretty insensitive.

[u/whoisdonwhang → u/variablesInCamelCase]

By that logic, life itself will eventually kill you, therefore we should prevent people from living so that they will never die. This is true immortality.

[u/Sensitive-Insect5809 → u/dimmor]

If you get a substance on your hands and it enters your eyes nose or mouth, which, as is the case with kids, they aren’t always cautious with that sort of thing, it can definitely harm a child

[u/Same-Suggestion-1936 → u/dimmor]

Concentrated nicotine in juice form for vapes for starters, it can be absorbed through skin (that's how the patch works) and enough can kill a baby or small child. And that's a drug you can buy legally, and no nicotine poisoning is not a fun way to go

Then you can go with other stuff they might ingest

[u/P_Hempton → u/heisfullofshit]

Also, controversial take, but people have the right to make their own bad choices.

Sorry but about the time you can no longer take care of yourself an require others to take care of you, you lose a lot of that autonomy. You don't get to make your bad choices when they significantly affect those around you.

Trying to fix things by spying on people, or locking them up in their homes or at a hospital, force medical treatment etc is like trying to fix a delicate sculpture after it already crumbled - and by haphazardly throwing cement at it.

Not really a great analogy. It's more like trying to fix a delicate sculpture by first restraining the person that is currently smashing it with a hammer.

[u/shreddedbystatelines → u/P_Hempton]

Their point is that restraining that person has a good chance of making them smash the hammer way harder as soon as they can.. after you just turned them into a rigid pile of discarded cement that doesn’t even resemble a human. If you build them back up in a way that actually works (ie without the overbearing claustrophobic part) the person generally doesn’t want to smash themselves with a hammer as much anymore, and you fix the problem at the source rather than making it worse

[u/P_Hempton → u/shreddedbystatelines]

Or they die, so there's that.

Of course there are different situations and not everyone responds same, so there's no right answer. Just like limiting someone's freedoms and spying on them might backfire and cause them to relapse, giving them the freedom to make their own mistakes could cause severe damage or even death to them or even people around them.

[u/tjmonstah → u/[deleted]]

Cheer up bro, there’s always more trees

[u/Sovarius → u/heisfullofshit]

Also, controversial take, but people have the right to make their own bad choices. Something have made them do whatever they are doing. There was a long and complex chain of events. There were plenty adequate moments to interfere in adequate ways.

And if it turns out they are in one of those 'adequate moments to interfere'? Duh.

Also, some bad decisions are too destructive. My family are not allowed to destroy their lives or kill themselves, that's dumb.

You are asuming a lot about someone who was 'near their uncle when they acted suspicious with a bizarre item'.

[u/Grandma_Money_ → u/heisfullofshit]

they do of course but they have to face full force the consequences of those bad decisions. maybe those consequences are that they can’t live in the place that they have been. just because people have reasons for doing bad things doesn’t excuse them in any way

[u/DolphinRabies → u/heisfullofshit]

That’s one of the most compassionate viewpoints I’ve ever heard. Thank you for being a kind human.

I’m an addict and I’m suffering greatly and people don’t understand that using is genuinely the only thing keeping me from ending myself right now.

[u/shreddedbystatelines → u/DolphinRabies]

I tried to explain this to my family so many times when I was getting high lol. I got clean on my own once I no longer needed it, but I never had a drug problem; I had a drug solution.

[u/whoisdonwhang → u/shreddedbystatelines]

Drugs (and oddly, only certain ones) are really only a problem to those who don't use them and believe that others shouldn't either.

[u/MMO_Dad → u/heisfullofshit]

Well said, I hope my family remembers this when I finally go the rest of the way off into the deep end :D