Nerd: Not What You Love, but How You Love It.

 This post was inspired by what is one of the most important videos I have viewed on YouTube in quite some time. I will post it below, and I encourage you to watch it for yourself. It's only about 4 minutes long. Even though it is titled "Why It's Awesome to be a Nerd", this video is about more than that. So, nerd or not, give it a view.

Also, I just want to point out that one definition for "Nerd" is: "a single-minded expert in a particular technical field."

 

 I've posted this video on Facebook before, but I found it again and felt like I should just write a bit about it. Now, being a nerd, this video speaks volumes to be. For those of you who are wondering who this Wil Wheaton fellow is and why he's wearing a heinously gauche scarf, I can explain. I grew up knowing him as Wesley Crusher from Star Trek TNG, but he's appeared in many other films and television shows. His scarf is a hand-knitted replica of the Fourth Doctor's scarf from Doctor Who.

Wesley Crusher

Fourth Doctor

  

Now that I'm pregnant, I definitely worry sometimes about how to approach the idea of being "different" with my child. I know it's okay but unfortunately I don't represent the entire world. People, especially kids, can be mean. If my kid ends up being the most popular kid in school, awesome. However, having two nerdy parents, I'm not banking on that reality. In this video there are lessons that I think everyone should take into consideration. It doesn't matter what your age is, or what your social status is. Here's how I see it:

Lesson One: "Everything worth doing is hard." - This comes at the end of the video and it is often an important thing that is forgotten in my generation, and the generations after mine. We come from the land of the easy. As a person who loves to read, I get sort of mad when people say, "I just watch the movies because reading is hard." That's what makes it worth doing. The amount of time and effort you put into something generally reflects what you get out of it. Sports are hard. Maintaining a friendship is hard. Being a cooperative family is hard. Shopping for the perfect shoe is hard. Explaining the Vulcan-Human relationship is hard. Working towards something means that it is worth doing to you. Having things handed to us doesn't show us how to appreciate the value of these things.

Lesson Two: "Don't let anyone tell you that the thing that you love is a thing you can't love." - We all love different things. Your age, gender, social status, culture, and society are not things that get to dictate what you love. Love comes from within us, not from the world around us. As Wil Wheaton says, "It might be sports, it might be science, it might be reading, it might be fashion design, it might be building things, it might be telling stories or taking pictures. It doesn't matter what it is. The way you love that, and the way that you find OTHER people that love it the way you do, is what makes being a nerd awesome." It's how you choose to love things that make them so amazing.

Lesson Three: "We can be around people that love things the way that we love them." - The hardest part about pouring our hearts into the things we love is that makes us open to criticism. The beautiful part is that you are never alone. You will never be the only person on Earth to love something. Sports fans congregate to games and tailgating parties. Fashion fans flock to NYFW. There are weekend concert events for almost any type of music. Nerds, of course, have Comi-con. Find people that love the things you love. The World will be a less lonely place.

Lesson Four: "I want you to be honest, honorable, kind." - This shouldn't take any explanation. If everyone started to practice this more, the world would be a better place. Not only that, but maybe we could see that it's okay to love things whole-hardheartedly. It's okay to pour our hearts into something; that is what makes us human.

I hope that this video and subsequent blog weren't just me ranting and raving about something nerdy that I find fabulous (because, let's be honest, that is something that I would do). I don't think that this should just apply to the stereotypical "nerds" of the world, but to the nerds of all kinds. Book nerds, sports nerds, fashion nerds...it doesn't matter. Being a nerd isn't about what you love, it is about the way you love it. To me, there is nothing better in the world.