What is the saddest thing you were ever told?

I was at work one day and my Mom showed up to talk to me. She told me my dad had been killed in a car accident.

I had a couple people say their mother actually told them they wish they were never born and had ruined their life. It breaks my heart every time I think about it.

17 years ago, a ten year old friend of my children was killed by a stray bullet from a drive-by shooting, just feet from his front door, on the day before his birthday. Terrific little man he was, his parents are still close to us. The shooter was never found.

I've seen men die in combat, some gruesomely, but this still brings a tear.

This is a story told to me by a near neighbour when I was very much younger.

During the second world war, her niece, a child of 4, found two old pennies in the street. Worth nothing now, but at the time, lots of sweets could be bought for that (although during the war, such treats were rare).

An air-raid warning sounded and the family trooped down to the cellar as the safest place to be if a bomb should land nearby.

The child left her newly-found fortune upstairs in the main part of the house.

Time passed and no bombs fell. The child remembered her two pence and begged her parents to be allowed to go upstairs to get it.

They refused for a while, but after half an hour and still no bombs, they relented and she toddled upstairs, just as the house was destroyed.

I'm told her mother never really recovered from the shock.

I just had a friend tell me she wasn't going to seek help because she's not "worth it"..

My child had died and was buried.

Edit: I thought of a different one. I was talking to a girl back when they still had Hatena. She told me about something that she had been through. Her best friend had killed himself but he was on the phone with her when he did that. He shot himself, she told me she heard him curse, struggle, and shoot.

I had an online friend who had talked to me for at least 3 years. She was kind but had some serious emotional issues, I helped her the best I could. There was one period that she didn't speak to me for 3 weeks and then out of the blue she says, "Take care, I love you, you were an amazing friend... Thanks." I found out she killed herself later that night.

When I was told John Lennon was killed.

5 years ago, I was hanging out with a friend of mine. I had gotten a call at some point, it was my dad. He told me my baby brother (only 2 years old) was at the hospital because he had stopped breathing. He had had breathing problems since he was born.

R.I.P Isaac Samuel Reine....

Been told & faced the fact that all my uncles & aunts are my enemies & will be glad to see me down (been sad the very first days that i've faced it) not anymore though & that made me grow with a unstoppable winning spirit.

The saddest thing I just read was Luke's story. My heart actually hurts now.

The saddest thing I was ever told was that my mom passed away. I was in school that day and instead of telling me in person, hehe, my dad did it over the phone. I scared half my class on the way down to the office (I had to go down there because my teacher knew I couldn't focus and my aunt was coming to get me.) I only scared them because I had just been so peppy and then I was sprechless.