Kids Arguing About Vocabulary!

I never thought I would see this in my lifetime. I'm sitting in the back of the bus yesterday and I overheard two kids arguing. City living makes you hyper-aware of your surroundings, but I try not to get too much into anyone's business. So I'm making sure they are not getting ready to jump into the aisle and start rolling up and down the bus, but I'm not really listening. Until…

"My vocabulary is bigger than yours."

What?

"No, my vocabulary is bigger than yours."

Okay, so now I have to look. One girl, one boy, from the same school in Dayton, OH, sparring on vocabulary. I did my best Allen Iverson talking about practice in my head ("Vocabulary? They're talking about Vo-cab-u-lar-y).



I thought they were going to bust out dictionaries and start an impromptu spelling bee. In a world where most kids are hiding how smart they are because they want to fit it, these kids are flaunting their intelligence!

But I wonder… when they get back to their neighborhood, does the dumb mask go back up? Are they accepted as the smart kids they are, or do they need to dial it back so the other kids don't ridicule them? How many intelligent kids guard their brain power like gold in Fort Knox from their friends, neighbors and even family?

I identify with those kids because I was one of those kids. But I couldn't put up the dumb mask. And I paid for it.

The names: Peabody. Mr. Wizard. Brainiac. At my high school in Chicago, we didn't the "Most Likely To" thing, but if we did, I would have been Most Likely To Become A Rocket Scientist. Even though rocket scientists are paid (or in reality, all the different types of engineers it takes to design, build and launch a spacecraft), that was the ultimate insult. "How dare you actually be smart?"

And the craziest thing? I was a jock! I played Basketball, Baseball and (allegedly) ran Cross Country (my only rules in running: don't come in last and don't let a girl within my eyesight beat me). But I was on the outside of the in-crowd. There were plenty of people who would have loved to trade places with me, but inside the locker room, I was low man on the totem pole. I always say kids are so cruel, because they will say and do things that will keep rattling inside someone's brain for decades.

Okay, so how do I make this about music, DJing, radio or women? Well, all those kids who thought I would be a rocket scientist… were right! But I'm a "Rock-It" Scientist! Instead of being in a lab, I'm in a club. Instead of running computer simulations, I'm running Serato Scratch Live. Instead of using my smarts to place people on the moon, I'm using them to bring them to the club, get them on the dance floor, get them drinking and (most importantly) get them to come back!

So I thank those kids in the back of the bus. I feel good that they felt comfortable enough around their peers to show their intellect. They are going to be highly successful in whatever they decide to put their mind to.

My 5 plus 1 list on how to overcome childhood ridicule:
1. Find people who like you for you
2. Find hobbies that you excel in
3. Find hobbies that you love to do, no matter how bad you are at it
4. Let negative energy roll off you like water off a duck's back
5. Actively remember the good things that people say to you and about you

and plus 1: look in the mirror and say "I love you" to yourself. Watch the smile creep over your face. Internalize that feeling.