Cool to the Nerd Power
*Not based on actual science or math.
There are many possible ways that one could be a nerd. Some people are book nerds, others are car nerds, and we can’t forget about the comic book nerds. In short, a nerd is someone with an extreme passion for a particular subject.
But you can’t possible put gear heads (car nerds) in the same category as comic book dorks!
Oh yes I can! One of my only best friends is a gear head and listening to him talk about car parts can be just as grating as listening to a comic book nerd talk about batman. Just because gear heads get laid more than comic book nerds doesn't mean that their obsession is any cooler. At least that's what I tell myself this guy I know.
There is a nerd in all of us. A little suspender wearing geek who would much rather talk about x (nerdy passion) than y (generic cool thing). And yet, we mock those who choose to display their passion out in the open.
Look at the picture above. You can't help but feel some sense of satisfaction when you look at this guy. You would never wear anything that lame and you most certainly would not create photographic evidence. You are way more socially acceptable than him.
On the other hand, did you ever enjoy doing something so much that you didn’t care what people thought of you? Did you ever put public opinion on the backburner for the sake of your own happiness? (Don’t lie on the internet, the cyber police will get ya!)
The guy in the photo, despite your pre-conceived notions about his character, did something he wanted to do. (I don’t always sound like an old man, but when I do, I’m standing on a soapbox.) We as a society care too much about creating the illusion that we don’t care at all.
I’m in college right now and every Monday I overhear people crafting the story of the weekend to make it seem better or worse than it was.
For instance, if two people went to the same party the night before, then person A has to tell person B that they thought it was lame. “Yeah Bro it was alright but this other party I went to the night before was so much better.” If person B did not go to the party, then person A has to talk about how great it was. “OMG Rachel you should have been there it was so awesome!” In both examples, person A has to pretend like they could have had a better time or did have a better time than person B.
I guess enjoying the moment isn’t as nearly as cool as being the envy of your friends.
This is why I wanted to salute the nerds out there who are not afraid to like what they like. We need passionate people in this world because that is how stuff gets done. Would we ever have had a space program if NASA scientists thought going to the moon was lame because Russia was already working on it? (I know that the space program had huge cuts and a lot of rocket scientists lost their jobs but just go with my analogy anyway.)
So while your first instinct may be to laugh at the nerd in the picture you must always remember this: What does laughing at him say about you?
