XTC came out of Fred on XM as I took Ryan to school this morning.
“Dear God, sorry to disturb you, but… I feel that I should be heard loud and clear. We all need a big reduction in amount of tears and all the people that you made in your image, see them fighting in the street ’cause they can’t make opinions meet about God, I can’t believe in you”
“This song is from one of my favorite bands of all time,” I told him.
“What’s it called?”
“The band or the song?”
“The band.”
“XTC,” I said, “and this song always reminds me of my first day in regular high school.”
Ryan looked surprised. “You went to regular high school?”
“Yeah,” I said, “for one semester when I was your age, just before I got Star Trek.”
The light ahead of us turned yellow, then red. We waited.
“Did you like it?” He said.
“No. I hated it.”
“Why?”
“Because I was really shy, and awkward, and nerdy. I had never been in regular public school before, and I felt like I was in a foreign country,” I said, “it was even worse, because I was famous from Stand By Me, so the kids at the school thought my shyness was arrogance.”
The light changed.
“Anyway,” I continued, “it was already hard for me to make friends anyway, and when nobody would give me a chance . . . ”
I trailed off, and joined Andy Partridge, “I won’t believe in heaven and hell. No saints, no sinners, no devil as well. No pearly gates, no thorny crown. You’re always letting us humans down.”
“Would you change it, if you could?” Ryan asked.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I missed out on homecoming, and prom, and football games, and all that stuff you’re going to get to do, but I had a good time being on Star Trek. I don’t know if I ever would have made friends in high school.”
We pulled up in front of his school.
“You only get four years here, Ryan. Don’t waste them.”
“Okay,” he said, “I love you. I’ll see you after school.”
“Love you too,” I said, “have a great day.”
I watched him walk across the lawn, and didn’t drive away until he was out of sight.
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I have to admit that “Dear God” has always featured high in the ranks of my all time personal favourite songs. Sarah McLachlan does a stunning rendition of this song, and is certainly worth seeking out.
All The Best,
Scott
High School for me was quite awful I’ll admit. I was constantly being picked on and such, luckily I just taught myself to put up a sort of shield around myself and I tried to ignore them..
I love reading your stories, you sound like a really wonderful step dad and I’m sure Ryan will likely have a good time at high school.
Great to see the comments back.. it’s nice to read about other folks experiances too.
I remember when I was working at Canuckian Tire back in the day and this girl who went to the same high school as I told me when she’d see me in the hall she always thought I was a nice person.
In my head I thought “Well why didn’t you come talk to me then?”
Augh. People. I think it’s pretty obvious my transistion into becoming a hermit these last few years heh.
im comment 100.. rock on wil
Wow, Wil that was a wonderful story. You are an unbelievable writer and father. Please continue to share your wonderful stories with us.
Cori
p.s. Thank you for turning comments back on.
Loved the story, Wil. I have some idea of how you feel…I was much the same “type” as you in high school, minus all the fame and stuff. I managed to fall in with some good people that made things less painful…but only *less*, not completely pain-free. I hope that Ryan finds his niche, too…though I hope he has an easier time of it than either you or I did.
Oh, and many thanks to artisticspirit (above) for reminding me of the Sarah McLachlan cover of “Dear God.” I was lamenting the fact that we don’t have any XTC in our collection when I read her message…and we *do* have “Rarities, B-Sides…”. Commence ripping :-).
that was such a great story.
i am so nearly crying.
its nice to know that im not the only one whose gone through unpopularity.
your relationship with your step son is something you should treasure, as im sure you already do.
chin up đŸ™‚
ellie
p.s its nice to see comments back!
Great real life story Wil.
You know Gawd works in mysterious ways.
Hey what’s that in the sky? It looks like a giant hand reaching toward me…
AHHHHH…..
XTC is definitely cool. I love “Dear God.”
/just my $.02
Um, Andrew? Wouldn’t it be the opposite of “arrogant” then if we believe that we shouldn’t get the credit?? Maybe you meant to use another word. Perhaps you meant to choose ignorant, and that’s just ironic.
So really- we did it all? I don’t remember creating the universe, do you? Every good and perfect gift comes from above- I believe that with all my heart. I’m sorry you have so much anger towards others that find so much love in God.
You’re certainly back on track. I believe you just posted another story for a future book! This is exactly the kind of stuff you’re best at communicating. We, the people, love this stuff. Keep it up! Hooray, Comments!
Just noticed the Comments are back up. That’s awesome.
Great story about your stepson, Wil. Short but sweet.
Well this drives the final nail in the coffin of my unreasonable dislike of Wil Wheaton (all due to his character in that star trek series). I am a huge fan of XTC and to discover that Wil has the good taste to enjoy them as well makes it impossible to dislike him, and I enjoy his writing as well!
I was introduced to XTC by a friend when I was in HS too, and when he died a few years ago I was filled with the loss but I always remember sitting in his parents basement listening to “Making Plans for Nigel”, just two geeks sharing a moment in time.
PS
The Sarah McLaughlin version is on the XTC tribute album “Testimonial Dinner” as well
Since Wil has asked us not to use this as a BBS, I’ll only offer a brief reply to Krista’s comments.
I’m not sure what you perceive as anger in my comments; if anything, I pity those who have to invent a deity to find fulfillment in their lives. I do get angry at religious people who fail to heed Jesus’ greatest commandment, but that’s by no means all of them.
And yes, I meant “arrogant.” Our society has lots of serious problems we need to be working on, and those who claim that we enjoy divine favor often seem to overlook those flaws in their rush to glorify God.
I can relate, I was a geek at a catholic high school. It took a good part of my freshman year to make any friends. But, they came along, and we had some good times. I guess the one piece of advise I can give anyone going into high school is to not give a rats ass about what other think of you, and have fun.
–C. Alan
Well Andrew, you are certainly a melting pot of contradictions, aren’t you?? You are all over the place from one sentence to the next- I don’t think I need to entertain your provoking. Let’s just say I find it hard to believe God would create us only to write us off all together afterwards. But then again, I have no idea where you stand, and I’m not sure you do.
Enough.
This is not why I turned comments back on.
You’re more than welcome to continue your discussion at soapbox.wilwheaton.net
Wil, you are correct, and I apologize for my part in this.
I have to say that I too was one of the painfully shy, heavily picked-on kids in school, up through junior high. You wouldnt know it to look at me now I bet! But there you have it. In high school I came out of the shell a little bit but I was still pretty quiet and only really came out of the shell around a few people. It wasnt until my mid twenties that I really started to come into my own. Nowadays, watching me around my friends, you would never peg me as the quiet or shy type, although I still have my moments.
Funny aside…A few years ago, my dad told me a story about sitting at my 8th grade graduation from Hell…er I mean catholic school, and hearing a lady behind him talking to her friend, as I walked across the stage to get my diploma. She commented “that’s the girl I was telling you about, isn’t she beautiful? My son talks about her all the time!” I still to this day wonder not only if she actually meant me, although my dad says he puffed up like a peacock with pride hearing it. But I also wonder, who the hell was this guy??Why did he treat me like such utter crap the whole 5 years I was there? I say this because EVERYONE treated me like utter crap.
It puzzles me still. It also kind of explains why I have such a hard time taking compliments gracefully, after all those years being treated like crap I still have trouble believing that anyone would really like me, even though I don’t think I’m such a bad sort, really.
But I digress, and I’ve turned this into War and Peace. Point was, I could relate to everyone’s stories about being awkward, shy, outsiders, and not having great high school experiences.
Wil,
This made me think of something I said recently for a class. I’d said that at times, when I thought back to when I was 14, I’d felt that were I to see my 14-year-old self today, I’d want to kick his ass.
Then more recently, I realized that was wrong. What I NEEDED to do was talk to him. I needed to tell him that high school really IS meaningless. That there’s nothing to be afraid of, or no reason to be shy.
When I was 14, I needed to know that it wasn’t the end of the world if Pam Pacer didn’t want to date me. I needed to know that the opinions of the jocks who tormented me was totally meaningless – that at 24, they would be sitting on barstools reflecting back to the olden days. I needed to know that sometimes it’s ok to speak out against authority – that the teacher or principal isn’t always right, that they don’t always do the just things. I even needed to know that sometimes it would’ve been ok to get detention or even suspended.
Buuuut I’m going on way too long and you probably won’t even read this. Still, you made me think, so thanks :o)
aw thats so cute, but i mean weren’t you proud of your huge role in stand by me? If I were you i’d be really proud the movies the best. And i see what you mean about how you only get 4 years of high school so you should enjoy them. I just started high school this year and I know 4 years sort of seems far away but its really not my parents always tell me it goes by like nothing.
best. song. ever.
Ohh!! That’s a really nice story….and you are a really good (step)father!!!!:)))
Ps.: Yeah!!!!!! Comments!!!!!!!!!:D