Kids can be cruel. They possess a god-like ability to find the slightest difference and exploit it. At first, it begins with pointing and making public comments. If their parents are decent human beings, they correct them and explain such behavior is not polite. This behavior lasts as long as caring adults remain by their side, but when they are free, they can become darkened clouds gathering like a storm ready to strike on even the subtlest difference.

There was no hiding my glasses. They were big, brown, and covered half of my face. I was terrified of being treated differently and being made fun of because of them. Without a doubt, every word I feared hearing was said to me. Looking back at those words now, they seem harmless but when you are five or six-years-old words like four-eyes, blind, nerd, or dork hurts. It hurt because in the days before arriving at school with my new glasses there were no perceived differences. I was just like everyone else. Now, the sharks were circling, and they could smell blood in the water.

Before me, there were two paths. I could laugh off their insults or I could let it scar me. To me, one path meant isolation and pain. That path could have led to some very dark and disturbing places. Instead, I chose to laugh it off. At an early age, I decided to use sarcasm and my whit to punch back at those making fun of me. My sense of humor would be both my shield and my sword (a weapon I still use to this day).

At first, my new-found weapon was about finding a flaw in those exploiting my difference. Was it their teeth? Their clothes? Their hair? Quickly, I realized I did not want to hurt someone’s feelings. I did not want them to feel as I did. What if upon meeting a person or a group of people, they discovered I was the funniest person in the room? If I could make them laugh instantly and keep them laughing, then we would never discover or talk about our differences. My goal was not to be the class clown. I just wanted to make people laugh. I always have. My sense of humor is mine because I wore glasses and it has protected me since kindergarten.

Be good to each other,

Nathan 

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