A few months ago, my math teacher told our class about how “incredible” her son was. Having met Corbin, I know that he’s indeed a genuine legend (he’s an adorable dancer with class and sass). But coming from his mom, it just seemed biased.
She noted the palpable discomfort in the room and then said, “What? What’s so wrong with me saying my son is awesome? Why are you guys so afraid to acknowledge your accomplishments? Why are you so afraid to admit that you’re awesome?”
For some reason, that seemingly meaningless conversation has resonated with me.
Ninety-five percent of teens have felt inferior at least once in their life, according to a Stage of Life-conducted survey.
Why is it that teens have this inherent belief that we’re not good enough?
It may be because when you excel in something, you can never tell people that you’re good, or quantify just how good you are. You always have to give them the classic, “Oh, I’m okay I guess.”
If we all know that “I’m okay” is code for “yes, I rock,” then let’s just tear down the facade and acknowledge our strengths. If you truly excel at something, you should be able to showcase your talents without the fear of being judged by your peers. I’m not saying that you should post your perfect weighted GPA and 36 ACT score in your Twitter bio, but if you have a talent, you should be proud.
There’s still another side to the coin. It’s also important to understand that it’s part of our biology to be flawed; there are things that you aren’t going to be good at, and that’s okay.
Within the Whitman sector of overachievement, I’m reminded of the time when my mom and I awkwardly ran into that same math teacher while out to lunch. We were talking about how in the Whitman realm, it’s quite possible that the worst thing in the world is to get a B. Regardless of a class’s difficulty, B means bad.
However, in the words of Albert Einstein: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
Everyone has their talents and everybody is awesome at something. People just have different niches, which in turn creates such a diverse environment in our school. That’s something to celebrate, not change.
If you’re the chem star, congratulations. We couldn’t be happier for you. And we would hope that you couldn’t be happier for the artsy kid, or the English junkie, or the soccer champ.
Let’s stop wasting our time judging our friends for their talents or being afraid to show our weaknesses. Let’s make the most of our high school experience. Let’s embrace our awesomeness and our averageness, and do the same for our peers.
