Not one of us goes through life finding ourselves touched by its routine-ness. It’s the unconventional things that we really live for–the abnormal, the exceptional. This is about the people deemed “out of the ordinary,” how they surprise us, and why they may just be the most extraordinary.
I’ve always enjoyed challenging myself, and I worked really hard in school. I was also the class clown. A living paradigm for oxymoronic, I loved learning and having crazy amounts of fun. I took all the honors and AP classes I could growing up while spending my free time with a group of guys that didn’t exactly follow suit. Sure, they were members of the “cool” crowd in high school, but I’ve always enjoyed them for their own weirdnesses.
It was the nerdy students who accompanied me in my upper-level classes. While we rarely hung out outside of school, I spent every day with them for four years and considered many of them my good friends. High school adolescents don’t always appreciate these introverted characters who have way more to offer than they’re given credit for.
The fact is, I always considered myself one of these kids. The only reason my life style looked different was probably because I switched schools in the middle of the year when I was 9. I didn’t have many friends when I lived in Chicago, and I never made them easily either. But chance had it that I moved to an elementary school that loved new students. Seriously, they had a list of what students got to sit next to me at lunch each day. It was really welcoming and kind of beautiful. I felt loved.
I also realized how much that kind of treatment conditions a person’s behavior. It made me more outgoing. I had confidence that I was likable, and I learned how to act like it. I don’t think I would have been able to be as comfortable in social situations as I am today if it wasn’t for that experience. It marked the point in my life that I became an extrovert.
And it’s significant because they didn’t love me for my social ease or my beauty by any means. They loved me because they were 9-year-olds thrilled by the fact that a new student would be joining their class. So I saw the so-called nerds growing up as people who were never given the opportunity to feel valued. They never acquired the attributes of people who know that they are. I really connected with them because of that.
Really I’m writing this because I want people to understand that nerds are the coolest kids you could ever meet. They laugh at your stupid jokes. Not because their own jokes are stupid, but to tell you still get an A for effort. They empathize more than anyone how a bad grade can make you feel bad about yourself. They were each quirky in their own way that defined them as individuals. The quirkiness was the thing I loved the most.
Nick Porubsky was one of the best. This kid was so neat, so fun to talk to, such a great friend. He was always my lab partner in honors chemistry, which was great because he was a whole lot better at chemistry than I was. And he was a great conversationalist, something you definitely need in chemistry. He definitely looked straight-laced from the outside, but when we talked politics, I heard expletives I didn’t know existed. I mean the passion this kid had,when you combine that with his perfect mastery of sarcasm, it’s simply indescribable. He could take on the likes of Moore and O’Reilly any day. And he’s so much damn smarter than any of them.
Johnny Koremenos will be famous. He wasn’t so much a nerd as he was a secure high schooler, something you just don’t see everyday. The star of every musical I can remember, his completely uninhibited demeanor and a profound knack for networking ended up creating an individual with a flair for politics like you couldn’t fathom. Vote for him when his time comes, politics aside.
Now a 21-year-old adult, I’ve fallen back in love with my old, introverted and nerdy self. I’m still friends with the same group of guys from the in-crowd, and I treasure every glimpse of their quirks I can get. Some of them have re-embraced their own nerdiness. Ironically, those are the guys pursuing their passions. And the ones who haven’t? I’d just give ‘em time ; )
Beauty can be found in the most unexpected places. If we’re willing to look hard enough, we can always encounter it. Most important, I think, is to remember to welcome the weird, the awkward, and the nerdy in the people around us. Sometimes, that’s what it takes before they can do it themselves.
Filed under: Everyday Life
