Life Lessons - Sixth Grade

If you’re good at something, it’s human nature to toot your own horn. Growing up, I was never the athlete I so desperately wanted to be.  However, I was blessed with a mind that could hold its own in the academic forums.  I think it would be unfair to label me a show-off, but it’s true that I sought to prove my abilities whenever I could.  The best way to do this was raise my hand and answer as many questions correctly as I could.  During class one day, I was on a particular roll.  After the umpteenth time I had delivered an answer, Jason Krohn casually turned around and asked me, “We both know you know this stuff.  Why don’t you just sit back and let the dumb kids try to answer?” Krohn was one of the few kids in our grade that I considered an intellectual superior, so his suggestion wasn’t taken lightly.  I can only speculate what his motive was.  Perhaps he felt some mutual respect for another “gifted program” kid and was trying to save me from some unnecessary effort.  Perhaps he got some pleasure from hearing what ridiculous incorrect response would be offered up by one of the aforementioned “dumb” kids and I was depriving him of that opportunity.  Or perhaps Krohn was just downright annoyed by my actions as much as others probably were.  Whatever the reason, I forced myself to recognize that Krohn was an individual perfectly capable of replicating my actions and yet he chose not to.  I ultimately decided to heed his advice, sit back, and enjoy the ride.  I still submitted the occasional correct response when I grew weary of a roadblock our class had hit or when I was feeling an extra strong case of withdrawal.  I just didn’t feel the need to advertise my academic prowess as much anymore, and that’s the takeaway here.  I try to keep these words of advice at the forefront of my thoughts:  Act like you’ve been there before.  If you act like you’ve been there before, then people will assume you have.  Whenever I do something that may seemingly give cause to celebrate, I try not to make a big deal out of it.  I’m not talking about just academics anymore.  For instance, I don’t get very animated on the bowling lanes after a strike.  A little fist shake if it’s a big shot in a big spot will do just fine.  Don’t get me wrong, I love acts like a crazy choreographed touchdown dance as much as the next the guy.  However, give me the quiet confidence that exudes from expecting something positive and then letting your play do all the talking.  I’ll cite Walter Payton and Barry Sanders as two examples.  They are two of the greatest running backs of all-time and both found the end zone on countless occasions.  Their celebration?  A simple flip of the ball to the referee.  How can you not respect that?  Once I stopped answering so many questions, it would have been very easy for my fellow classmates to assume I had lost a step, but I knew better.  I’d just let my grades do the talking, even if forming words would be difficult given the lack of consonants. As I’m coming to this entry’s conclusion, I’m realizing that there’s been an awful lot of bragging in a blog whose main objective is to denounce that sort of behavior.  Well, you’re certainly not going to rewrite this thing now.  Just take yourself down a few pegs so your message isn’t compromised.  With all due acknowledgement to Justin Halpern, it is I who sucks at girls.  Yep, my ineptitude is legendary.  Ah, the old standby. That’ll do.