Long Live the Nerd

I'm a big fan of The Big Bang Theory. It's one of the few shows that can bring a smile to my face almost immediately. I recently saw Episode 13 of Season 6 called, "The Bakersfield Expedition" and something there hit a nerve. My heartbeat went up and I felt a tad sick to my stomach.

The guys were on their way to a Comic-Con, dressed in full Star Trek costumes. On the way, their car gets stolen and they have to walk through the desert to find a phone. They get to a diner and people make fun of them and it eventually gets to Sheldon.

He says, "We're not a real landing party. We're an imaginary landing party who got real-life garbage thrown at us by real-life strangers who think we're idiots. To tell you the truth, I'm starting to feel like one."

The way he said it--even though it was said by an actor, not in real life--made me nauseous. I tried very hard to think back on whether or not there was a time I felt like that. There was. When I was in elementary school. But after that, I got over it. I decided that those people who laughed at me didn't matter.

Yes, I used to dress up for the RenFest and other public events, and I did it with love. And with pride. Yes, people looked down on me but I didn't let them get to me because I loved doing it. The thing I realized, though, about what Sheldon said, was that my heart went out to him...and every nerd who has ever felt that way.

Because I LOVE people like that. I love the passion people have for their fandom. I love the courage it takes to go out like that in public and to be happy and smile and laugh about it. I hate the idea that anyone who does these things would ever feel any sort of shame about it just because there are judgmental jerks and haters out there who laugh at them. You're hated? Then you're doing something right.

I love D&D players. I love Magic: The Gathering Players. I love cosplayers. I love these people who have such imagination and creativity that they bring color to the world...and I hate that they're ever put down by others. But what I hate the most is that so many of them listen to the haters and their world gets dark and they put their passions away.

Don't do that...

Guys, listen to me. You think you're not good enough for a "hot" b/f or g/f. You think your life is less than those pricks who get attention because they're pretty or popular or whatever. But you are awesome. I cannot stress that enough. I am a 30 year old woman with several kids...kids that I can only hope will grow to be "nerds" because the life of a nerd is so much more fulfilling than a life spent on materialistic values or vanity. Money and looks pull you into the pit of despair eventually. Because they're fleeting. But honest passion, creativity and laughs are never-fading...unless you let the Dementors of this world suck the fun out of everything.

Don't ever feel less than anyone else. Don't ever let yourself feel down. Don't listen to people who call you names or laugh at you.

Those people suck.

-Lilian