Last year, at Denver Comicon, I answered a question from a young woman who was having a hard time at school, because kids were being cruel to her. She asked me if I was ever called a “nerd” when I was in school, and how I handled it. Here’s my answer:
This seems to be going viral today, and made it to the top of the front page of Reddit yesterday, where her mother commented:
That was my daughter. She and the girl that bullied her are cool with each other this year. They aren’t in the same class, though. This year has been a good year, but she noticed another little girl in her class kept getting picked on by the other students. She became this girl’s friend and stands up for her when the other kids are being mean. We’ve talked about this moment a lot. After this panel, she paid to get her picture taken with Wil. He actually hugged her!
In the same thread, her father weighed in:
That was my daughter that asked that question. This was a magical moment for the whole family. What you might not get from the sound of all the applause is that there wasn’t a dry eye in the room after this. Mia met Wil again briefly at the Kansas city con this year, and he was as gracious and cool as you could have hoped. They talked about minecraft, ballet, mistakes, and silliness. Wil Wheaton, you are an honorary member of this family and I hope you know that you have made a real impact on Mia and the rest of us silly nerds. I wish you nothing but the greatest success. Oh yeah we love Tabletop too.
I’m so happy to learn that she and the girl who was mean to her have changed that relationship dynamic, but I’m so incredibly proud that she’s standing up against bullying with other kids in her school.
I really try my best to be the person I want other people to be. I don’t always succeed, but when I see things like this, and hear from people who have been touched or inspired by something I said or did in a positive way, it reminds me how important it is to do everything we can to be awesome.
Speaking of being awesome, please enjoy this picture of her that her mom put on Reddit last year.
UPDATE: via Medium.com, a transcript:
When I was a boy I was called a nerd all the time—because I didn’t like sports, I loved to read, I liked math and science, I thought school was really cool—and it hurt a lot. Because it’s never ok when a person makes fun of you for something you didn’t choose. You know, we don’t choose to be nerds. We can’t help it that we like these things—and we shouldn’t apologize for liking these things.
I wish that I could tell you that there is really easy way to just not care, but the truth is it hurts. But here’s the thing that you might be able to understand—as a matter of fact I’m confident you will be able to understand this because you asked this question…
When a person makes fun of you, when a person is cruel to you, it has nothing to do with you. It’s not about what you said. It’s not about what you did. It’s not about what you love. It’s about them feeling bad about themselves. They feel sad.
They don’t get positive attention from their parents. They don’t feel as smart as you. They don’t understand the things that you understand. Maybe one of their parents is pushing them to be a cheerleader or a baseball player or an engineer or something they just don’t want to do. So they take that out on you because they can’t go and be mean to the person who’s actually hurting them.
So, when a person is cruel to you like that, I know that this is hard, but honestly the kind and best reaction is to pity them. And don’t let them make you feel bad because you love a thing.
Maybe find out what they love and talk about how they love it. I bet you find out that a person who loves tetherball, loves tetherball in exactly the same way that you love Dr. Who, but you just love different things.
And I will tell you this — it absolutely gets better as you get older.
I know it’s really hard in school when you’re surrounded by the same 400 people a day that pick on you and make you feel bad about yourself. But there’s 50,000 people here this weekend who went through the exact same thing—and we’re all doing really well.
So don’t you ever let a person make you feel bad because you love something they decided is only for nerds. You’re loving a thing that’s for you.
Well done, Mr. Wheaton.
Always happy to see you (and other popular figures) making a positive impact on others, especially kids. The kids in my class think you should always be the first to hear about all the “cool” and/or “nerdy” stuff we do in class. Thank you for encouraging the nerdiness within us all.
Wil, I met you for the first time this year and you were so understanding when I told you that, despite Wesley having some haters, he had a lot of gay fans back then. You said that you were touched that someone who was maybe beginning to realize they were attracted to guys found that identity because they had a reaction to Wesley. I think that was the best response I’ve ever heard from any “teen idol” to their gay fans. Thanks so much.
I forgot to ask you: are you still attracted to nerdy guys who are really smart but also awkward?
Absolutely! Got any friends that need a date? 😉
I’m a female, but I’m still attracted to nerdy guys (and girls) who are really smart but also awkward. And Wesley was one of my earliest, strongest, formative crushes.
Had to chuckle even though your comment was addressed to me, because it made me look over at my smart, nerdy, awkward husband. I never had a crush on Wesley, but you’d never know it look at my romantic choices.
And ‘fess up — when you were young Mia’s age, did you think the world would see you as an adult, wearing an LA Kings sweater and an Archie McPhee horse’s head? It’s a strange and wonderful world.
Your words are pretty awesome, Wil. When I was in high school I was called Supergoof by pretty much everyone in my math class. Why, did they choose “Supergoof”. Well, it had to do with my love of Superman. I was a quiet, bookish girl who had a love for Superman, Broadway, and classic films. Things that were not loved by many of my classmates. Reading a book about MGM musicals was something frowned upon. And I still love of all of those things today.
I can’t say that it didn’t bother me because it did. Especially because most of it was done right in front of the teacher who never even tried to control his classroom. But, it didn’t stop me from being me. I was fairly self-actualized even at the age of 14. I continued to enjoy those things and now it’s actually considered “cool” 🙂
I’m the one everyone asks what Broadway show they should see or what the name of the actor was in that classic movie. I have a niche and I’m happy in it.
Amazing response. I don’t know how you can come up with such true and meaningful advice on the fly, in front of a huge audience. Thanks for sharing your talent and compassion with the world. We are lucky to have you.
I’m not sure how I missed this last year, but I’m glad I caught the update. Wil, you have always seemed like such a wonderful, compassionate, sweet person and I am so glad that the comic cons and expos keep letting you share life-changing thoughts like this one with us. I hope I see you again at Calgary or Edmonton expo. I know we’re always happy to have you. 🙂
Just. So. Cool. Thank you from my inner little girl nerd who was too smart and too chubby and way too out on the fringe. 🙂
Very nice. I had trouble with audio but found this transcript here: https://medium.com/best-thing-i-found-online-today/10ece8e4193f
Wow that was the most amazing dad speech ever. Seriously I love it. I only wish my dad had given such wisdom. His answer to bullying was that I needed to try harder to serve them, share the gospel, and win them over for Jesus. In my family persecution was touted as a good thing because it was seen as evidence of being a good Christian.
I’m glad this video is going viral. Hopefully someone who needs to see it will.
Keep being awesome. 🙂
I think I give you a new title… the Dali Lama of Nerds and Geeks… yeah thats it… 🙂
A very wise man once said…
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”― Mahatma Gandhi
Way to be the change.
I immediately dragged my son away from Minecraft to watch this video, and talk about it. He knows you, and knows you are an ally. Thank you Wil for helping another father find the words to help his children grow up proud and brave and strong.
You are a cool dad, Mr Sroka. As are you Mr Wheaton. Just thought i’d say that. DFTBA.
I often times have to drag Mia away from Minecraft to do things, too.
Well, Wil, sometimes you just rock beyond rocking. 🙂
If ever you doubt how important you are to so many people, just watch this again.
Thank you so much for being so cool to Mia. She was so nervous that you wouldn’t remember her when we were standing in line at Planet Comicon to see you. She was a little bummed that Anne wasn’t at the table. She wanted to see her, too, and have her sign the picture. Please tell Anne that Mia said hi. I’m so glad that you read all of that. We’ve been wanting to tell you for so long how much it meant to us, and how much it changed her outlook on things. As her parent, I feel like there’s only so much mom advice she takes to heart. Another thing I didn’t add…my older daughter’s English class in 9th grade got on the topic of bullying the other day. Her teacher played this video for everyone, and they had a long discussion about it. You are a good person, a great one in our eyes, and you have had a big impact on others. Perhaps more than you may ever know.
Loved the advice! Even as an adult, it’s good to get a reminder on perspective. After seeing this video, I wiki’ed you. I was shocked when I read this section.
Star Trek[edit]
From 1987 to 1990, he played Wesley Crusher in the first four seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This became a recurring role later in the series. Although his Star Trek character, and by extension Wheaton himself, was disliked by a vocal group of Trekkies during TNG’s first run, he commented about his critics in an interview for WebTalk Radio:
Later, I determined that the people who were really, really cruel – like the Usenet weenies – really are a statistically insignificant number of people. And I know, just over the years from people who’ve e-mailed me at my web site and people who I’ve talked to since I started going to Star Trek conventions again in the last five years, that there are so many more people who really enjoyed everything about the show, including my performance, including the character.[4]
Wheaton’s popularity among Star Trek fandom is covered in a number of web comics. ArcaneTimes of March 25, 2005 offers a sympathetic position.[5] Something Positive presents a range of opinions as part of the storyline Mike’s Kid.[6] Abstruse Goose tries to distinguish between the character and the actor.[7]
My dad watched STTNG religiously… Including aired reruns… (Still does) he monopolized the tv at night. If I wanted to watch tv, I watch what he was watching. I ONLY watched with him bc you were on. I had such a crush on you too! LoL. In a weird way I connected to the character… I loved imagining what kids in space voyages could/would be doing…. It fostered my imagination and interests in the sciences.
Years later I was an art major that fulfilled my science requirements with astronomy… I did pretty good in it to. I had a solid C and I was damn proud. My professor said that only science majors excelled with b+ grades… All of the non science majors failed… Except me.
So thank you… Btw I’ve been following you all of these years. I still enjoy your work. Keep being you! 🙂
Great job! Mr. Wheaton, you have no idea how amazing was to hear it and even better knowing that Mia is going well this year. God bless you, her, and all the people who know how it feels.
No, Wil is right. When people of any age (other than the little, little kids) are mean to someone else, it’s because they are feeling bad about themselves. If you think that a victim “changing [their] behavior accordingly” is going to keep the bully from bullying them, you are completely wrong. Not only that, but it sends the message that the victim of the bullying is the one who caused the bullying–and that could not be further from the truth. People who are happy on the inside are happy on the outside. People who are mad/sad/angry on the inside are the ones who bully.
It’s such a beautiful story, so touching!
It does get better, but it never stops being hard. I’m hyper sensitive, have chronic pain and read 8 books a week when I started a new school in 3rd grade, and I just decided there was no way I’d ever be normal, so there was no use in faking.
I had interests nobody else had, I discussed politics with my teachers, were active in class to the degree of being a pain in the ass to all my teachers (our school book in social studies genuinely said: “a teacher prefers a normal student who tries her best and does what the teacher says/wants over a smart student that’s challenging”).
So I’ve always been open about my interests, I’ve never changed my way of speaking/topics based on who I talk to, and I’ve never pretended to be interested in something I’m not (I’ll still talk/listen to people about it if they want to talk about it, though, I’m not impolite).
But it is still really hard when people laugh you in the face. It will never stop feeling patronizing when someone openly mocks your interests.
I still remember my first semester at the University, in introductory art class, we were discussing how an artist can have a different interpretation of their work than the viewer, and how being introduced to the artist’s viewpoint can change the viewer’s opinion.
I started to say that it can happen, because after watching the special features to Incredibles, and hearing Brad Bird’s interpretation of his movie, I’ve never been able to see the movie the same way again,
and I had the whole room laugh in my face for using an animated movie as a comparison.
And it is really hard to recover from the feeling when somebody looks down upon you for your “not highbrow enough” interests.
I love animation, I know a lot about animation, and it will naturally be one of my comparison points when discussing personal experiences, art and movies, but I’m a lot more careful about bringing it up now, as it’s not really accepted here that adults have an interest in animation, and it’s also difficult to get acceptance for there being more to animation than cutesy characters and a happy ending.
(If anybody were wondering about Incredibles: Brad Bird feels the movie is about Mr. Incredible’s struggle to be understood by his family. His wife doesn’t “get” him, and his kids have drifted away from him. He doesn’t do anything wrong when he runs away, and the whole journey is so that the family can learn to understand each other and let him be himself – as seen by the ending, where he gets to be the superhero again.
Also, Iron Giant is about a boy’s search for a new father figure in his life. Brad Bird, you make good movies, but I do not like you, or your views, at all!)
Oh, Elaine! I relate so much to your love of animation and how adults look down on it as something for children. But there are some amazing stories in animated films and great characters, too. More importantly to me, the art itself is just that: ART.
I first fell in love with Disney and Peanuts, but when I found the original Fleischer Superman cartoons, my jaw fell open! The use of color in those was just brilliant and they are just beautiful to watch.
Hang in there, keep your interest in animation, eventually you’ll find someone like me that “gets it.”
Mr. Wheaton, that was wonderful. I wish I’d known when I was a kid the things I know now. I am playing this for my own kids. (BTW…we missed you at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle this year. Please come back!)
I’ve followed your blog for years, but never commented. I only just saw this video as well, but as a lifelong nerd myself, I immediately had my 9-year-old son (who loves LOTR, Minecraft, Greek mythology, and puppies) and my 7-year-old daughter (who loves Legos, Minecraft, and princesses) watch this with me. We talk a lot about how important it is for everyone to be able to like what they like and not feel like they have to conform to anyone else’s ideas of what they should or shouldn’t do. Your response to that little girl summed that up so very well that I wanted my kids to hear it straight from you. And, since I’m here, I also just wanted to say that I’ve always appreciated you talking about your experiences as a stepdad — I’ve been a stepmom to two wonderful kids (now 19 and 17) for 14 years now and it’s so nice to “hear” someone talking about stepparenting in such a positive and encouraging way.
Well said Wil. Nerds of the world unite!
Great response, Mr Wheaton. And said in such a warm, heartfelt manner.
You not only advise us to ‘Don’t be a dick’, you actively show how this is done. Thank you.
What a great response. Of course it may not be mum or dad who aren’t supporting the child that is doing the teasing or bullying, it might be another person. But hey, coming up with such an awesome response on the fly you can’t cover all the bases. It definitely does get better in most cases as you get older and find your niche group. But we need to be ever vigilant of adults bullying other adults for all sorts of reasons also. It’s all about tolerance and kindness. I’d like to share this video with the students I talk to about Cyber Safety, if you put the transcript up on the video, I’ll be sure to use the captions as the sound made it a little hard to hear.
Well said.
This is so cool of you, Wil. I wish every person that has as much social impact and influence as you used that power in such a positive manner. When I was a kid I got bullied a lot because I liked dinosaurs and science. Being a girl it was even harder, because I was expected to only be interested in boys and kissing at age 14. I’m glad I stuck to my unusual interests, because now I have my Ph.D. in paleontology and I get paid to find fossils and do research. I LOVE my job. I wonder how many of my bullies can say the same 😉
I was tormented from elementary school through high school for being different. I wasn’t as social as the other kids. I liked things they didn’t like. I didn’t like things they liked. I was smarter than them.
In high school, I became the target of a group of kids. Individually, they’d pass me in the hall with no problem. In a group, though, they’d get brave. They’d follow me from class to class shouting insults. They’d block me from entering my classes so I’d need to push past them and endure their heckling just to go to class. I loved school for the learning, but dreaded the torment that every other second of school would bring.
I made one mistake, though. I kept it inside. I decided that not showing them any emotions would mean less ammo for them to use against me. I pushed the hurt inside and built mental walls around myself to keep everyone – even people who weren’t tormenting me – out. I began to get paranoid. I was sure that any laughter in my area was directed at me.
Eventually, I told the one person I considered a friend. At first, he didn’t believe me but eventually he became concerned enough and decided I wasn’t exaggerating. He talked with the group of kids and they stopped tormenting me. Turns out they were “just having fun” and “didn’t realize it was hurting me.” Exactly what did they think tormenting me every day was going to do? (Answer: They didn’t think because they found it “fun” and never considered consequences beyond them.)
It took me a long time to recover from that. In some ways, perhaps, I still haven’t. Even though my high school years ended 20+ years ago.
My advice would be to learn from my mistakes. Don’t seal yourself up. Open yourself up. Find friends and family to talk to. Find people online or in person who share your passions. Don’t listen to your would-be tormentors. As Wil said, in the end this has nothing to do with you. This has everything to do with them. They are too narrow minded, too hurt by others, or too scared of not fitting in. They are trying to get rid of their pains by putting them on you. Ignore them. Don’t let them define the rules of your life as you being bullied into submission by them. You are stronger than they are. You are passionate about what you love and you should never change that to suit someone else.
(Sorry if I went a bit long, but you can tell this is a subject close to my heart.)
Me too! <3 I totally feel your pain, man. That's why it hurts so much to see it happen to my own kiddo.
My son was bullied also. A kid kicked him in the stomach on the way, ironically, to an anti-bullying presentation. When I met with the principal and teacher I was first told that nobody saw it. Then I was told that my son started it. (The bully jumped in front of my son on line. My son, protective of his personal space, put his hands up to protect himself, and the bully kicked him. That was their definition of “my son started it.”)
Finally, the principal told me “he’s not the type to be bullied.” That was it. I got out of there as soon as I could, called my wife, and we pulled our son from that school. He’s doing much better in his current school now and is with kids who understand him (he has since been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome) and accept him.
Thank you.
Thank you. My son has started kindergarten this year and has already had his share of bullying. He’s really skinny and is a complete and total nerd (like his parents. Well, the nerd part anyway.) So far he’s had to actually fight back because the school won’t do squat about protecting him from the boy that keeps hitting him, (I was proud. He got a Captain America costume out of it) and most of the kids in the his class make fun of his name.
Boy how I wish I heard that advice in middle school. I was tormented for my love of Star Wars so much that I went from fairly outgoing kid to always looking the other way over the course of a semester.
Thank goodness most humans naturally become more tolerant as they age. We’re getting better as a whole too. Keep it up, humanity.
Wil Wheaton.
Gentleman Nerd.
Sir Patrick must be proud of you.
I was fortunate enough to go to a high school where the largest (and most successful) team sport was the marching band. No, really. Our school’s football team was a joke and they were the butt of most jokes, not us nerds with the instruments. The baseball team was good, but no one really cared about that.
We might win one game a year in football, and that was expected. But it was also expected that the band would place well in every competition it entered. That’s neither here nor there, exactly, except that it means I largely circumvented much of the “typical” high school experience of bullying, etc. And since most of the band kids were in all my classes due to us all being, well, nerds and in honors stuff, we were fine. We didn’t pick on each other (much), and when we did, it was only about which DCI show that year was the best.
And I’m so grateful. Of course I had my share of struggles being young – everyone does – and I’m so very glad to be older, because it 100% absolutely does get better, but since my high school days were filled with soundtracks, musicals, and drum corps, and I never recall being picked on for that, I can’t complain.
Now, Chess club and Star Trek and Star Wars? That was a little different, and elementary school/junior high? Let’s not go there. My reason for kids singling me out was, well, let’s not go there. All that matter is it got better indeed.
It. Gets. Better.
Love the advice! You always give such great advice to kids. It’s funny, you know, when I think back on growing up and realize how much I was bullied and never let it affect me. Somehow my parents instilled in me the self confidence to be who I was and slough off the bad stuff. Sure, it hurt, but I’m so glad looking back on things that they were able to do that for me.
My parents also somehow managed to help me develop enough self-confidence to be true to myself. When I was bullied in high school and couldn’t understand why, Mom suggested that maybe that girl was jealous of me. I couldn’t figure out why, but just thinking that I might possibly be a person that someone else envied helped a lot! Parents wield more power than they know and I am grateful that mine were encouraging and affirming. Sounds like you, Kristy, had the same benefits!
I saw this trending on Facebooks this morning, glad I clicked on it. I hope my daughter won’t have to go through this when she’s old enough to be in school, but at least she’ll have encouragement from someone cooler than her parents if that time comes.
I recently started reading your books too, thanks to Humble Bundles 🙂 I am now reading The Days of Our Lives and I’m really enjoying it. I read a part last night about a giant Millenium Falcon you had your eye on. Did you ever get said Falcon? I think my step-dad gave me his many years ago and I never got around to taking it out of the box (busy with moving and getting married etc). However, I’m pretty sure it ended up somewhere in Kansas after we were hit by a tornado in 2011…hopefully someone found it and has a new edition to their collection. Maybe they wanted one as a kid as well, but didn’t want to save their money either.
My husband and I adore you, and hey, maybe we’ll get to see you at a con sometime. Come to the DFW area soon!
I learned to fight back. I learned a lot from reading all those books as a nerd.
http://taskwazen.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/foot-fight-at-the-vo-tech-corral/
You Sir… are a god among men. That is all. *goes off to have feels somewhere*
Well said, Wil! I was that nerd girl growing up. I was the kid that carried around a paperback (usually Star Trek!) in my pocket at school. I read everything I could get my hands on for every spare moment of the day. I qualified for and went to “smart camp” in the summers. And see, even as an adult I try to make it palatable to others by making fun of my intelligence and calling it “smart camp”, complete with quotes! It was an academic enrichment camp for highly gifted students through Johns Hopkins University. I was bullied in school too, and as I got older mostly just ignored. It hurt to be bullied and left out, but I knew what I liked and I claimed the nerd label with pride. I could never force myself into a mold that wasn’t me just to be liked better.
I cut my sci-fi teeth on STTNG, with VHS tapes (anyone remember those?!) that my dad brought back to Japan from friends in the States that had taped it, on his business trips. I had a bit of a sweet pre-teen crush Wesley- he just seemed so COOL! A young kid in outer space that was incredibly smart and got to do a ton of things that mattered and meet so many fascinating people…he was what I daydreamed of being. Is it any wonder I married a lanky, nerdy, computer-game-loving guy who goes by Will? 😉 Even better, he works on a submarine! In his words, “It’s a lot like being on a spaceship, except underwater.” I love that I can live in all my nerd glory and he LOVES me for it!
And, I have two little boys. The younger one is not even 2 yet so his talents mostly revolve around making messes, but the 4 year old is a delightfully budding nerd! He’s a smart, deep thinker who loves Legos, spaceships, submarines, and recently discovered a love for the Marvel Universe! Iron Man is his favorite, of course. He’ll sit for hours and listen to me read, too. I’m so honored to be mama to this awesome person and I’m thankful for my experiences growing up and all of the great role models (like you, Wil) I can share with him as he grows up! I hope I can be a lot like Dr. Crusher was to Wesley- nurturing, supportive, and always encouraging him to grow to his potential.
Wonderful….You are a true hero…..
You are a brave man, Wil Wheaton. I have posted your “laws” for the girls on my costume crew at a local H.S. to read. most of them came from the Anime club and Marching Band, not exactly the hot beds of ‘Cool’ but I love them. So thank you for taking the time to talk to all of us about loving what we love 100000%
I’m going to be a dad for the first time in August. I just mentally pocketed this for when I have to talk this about this kind of thing with my child.
Thank you for putting so eloquently what I’ve felt for a long time.
I’m a nerd, I was at school, and I was bullied to some extent. I came to the same conclusion you did. I decided that it was other people’s problem, not mine. I also realised how screwed many of my schoolmates were. They were utterly out of their depth, the school system had failed them, they were falling behind. They were in a system where they had no power, influence, no possibility of success. I think a lot of them were just desperately trying to find something to make them feel like they had agency in the world. I remember when I was 11, sat in an English lesson, and realised that some of the kids in my class were barely literate. They were out of their depth. No wonder many of them took it out on others.
I guess I stopped taking it personally. That doesn’t mean it was easy, but it definitely got easier, and I managed to finish school without too much bitterness.
Hey Wil. I am a middle school science teacher and shared your video with the teachers today. They thought it was amazing amd even asked “could he talk at our school?” At which I informed them that you were a very busy guy. However, if this keeps blowing up I’m sure more schools will ask you to speak! If it ever interests you hit me up!
Nerds unite. This made my nerdy inner child weep with relief and gratitude.
Thank you. For this and so much more.
That is awesome. I used to get picked on. Once I was even cornered by a gang of girls, pinned against a wall and need hard enough in the stomach that I couldn’t breathe for about 10 minutes. The ring leader of those girls had to sit down with me in the counsellors office and the councillor said a bunch of stuff and suddenly the girl was crying and saying she had never thought of me as a human being before (LOL) and swearing she would never tease me again. I thought for sure she was lying just to get out of trouble and we would go back to me getting chased home everyday after school. But it was true. She never ever bothered me again. We did not become friends. But I was safe again. The other girls took their cue from her and left me alone. It was a life changing moment for me. I started coming out of my shell a lot more after that.
Wil I like your motto “Don’t be a dick.” And I also like your philosophy about being awesome. It is something I try to do myself. I think the two need to be combined “Don’t be a dick, be awesome.”
If more people worried less about what others are doing and focused more on just being awesome, the world would be a better place.
This was such a great reply and so compassionate; it made me cry as I wish someone had said that to me when I was younger. These days the name-calling is in jest as my son made me a mothers’ day card with the Starfleet emblem on but still (jokingly) called me a loser as he gave it to me 😉
You are a good, good and generous human…..Great message of hope and reality, in a wonderfully clear, humane, compassionate and humorous manner…..It’s a wonderful thing to be able to call my aspie nerd amazing son over to the compy, have him watch this, and have him fist bump me and say, “Yep…true story, huh? Smart guy…”
Wil Wheaton: you are a good human….I am very glad you exist and share that way you do. Thanks.
really great response, I’m going to play this for my 12-year old son as soon as I get home from work today. He travels in that crossover lane between being bullied and sadly, sometimes being the meanie himself. I am more than certain he will take to your advice, though. Thank you!
Very awesome.