What's something horrible you've witnessed as a child but did not completely understand, only to discover later in life how horrible it really was?

When I was 4 years old, me and my friends were walking in the woods near our neighborhood when we found a full grown groundhog caught in a steel trap. The kind of traps that are spring loaded, looks like a small bear trap, not a cage trap. It was on it's back leg. I told my friends that my 80 year old neighbor could probably help us. I ran as fast as I could and got him while they waited with the little guy. He said he'd help and grabbed his shotgun. I thought, "Great, we'll shoot the lock!" Well, we get there and we're all excited to liberate the little guy. My neighbor shoots the groundhog, point blank, in the face. I can still see it perfectly. He really should have asked us to look away.

/r/AskReddit Thread