Nerd Pride

I wrote the following for AcaDeca.

I returned home dejected from a rough day of the second grade. When I professed my dream to be a science fiction author to my whole English class, everybody just laughed. When I asked the cute girl who sat in front of me in math on a date, she recoiled with a nasty “No!” My limbs were sore from a thousand dead arms as the bullies chanted “Nerd, nerd!”

I slammed my bedroom door, dropped my backpack on the ground, slumped in the chair and turned on the boob tube. I was welcomed by the sort-lived tech-talk show Unscrewed with Martin Sergeant. His guest today: Wil Wheaton, better known as Wesley Crusher of Star Trek fame. I never expected that what I would hear that day would change my life.

He expressed with great confidence and detail that he was proud to be a nerd. He was proud to have been a part of Star Trek, to play video games well into his 30’s, and write books about it. He took the word “nerd” and turned it from a label of shame into a badge of courage. He was proud to be different, and wasn’t afraid of who he was. At the time, that was a foreign concept to me.

But still, I took what Wil Wheaton said to heart. I realized that I could be proud of my unmatched knowledge of video games, my uncanny ability to quote lines from Star Wars, and recite lines of Tolkien. The next day at school, I couldn’t wait for my first chance to demonstrate my new-found self-confidence.

Those bullies approached me with the usual threats of trashcannings and locker-stuffings, but today I was ready. “Nerd, nerd!” they chanted for the hundredth time, but in response, with a scrawny fist raised high, I shouted “Nerd Pride!” What did they do? Well, they laughed. Not the usual nefarious cackle, but a different, warmer chuckle. I made it through that day unscathed and un-bruised. From that day on, my confidence grew and my reputation changed. I learned that people will accept you as long as you accept yourself. I found this was true in many facets of sophomoric preteen life, and easily extends to this day.

I’m now eighteen years old. My favorite movie is Star Wars, I love to play video games, I have no clue how football works, and I’ve never been on a date. But that doesn’t change the fact I’m proud of who I am: a nerd.

We nerds are a resilient people. The decades of taunts and teases at the hands of schoolyard bullies have molded us into strong, charismatic individuals. Nerd pride isn’t isolated. With the rise of the internet came a new forum through which we nerds have been able to band together better than ever before. The Greeks said that philosophers shall inherit the earth. Certainly the same is true today, nerds being today’s philosophers.

Note: Most of this has been exaggerated. I don't have a TV in my room and I'm pretty sure nobody has chanted "Nerd, nerd!" since 'Nam.