(Article):The other side (@graiceamunt)
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So who are my talking about? Who are these 'unpopular' people? And, what has it got to do with you anyway? Well,I am talking about the nerds, the geeks and those we term 'ugly'. Why am I talking about them? Don't worry, at the end of this article you'd get to know. Now,
before I go further, I'd like to ask two 'True and False' questions and you have to be completely honest about your answers alright?
Okay,here goes...
1. You do have that person or people in your class whom for some reason you do not talk to and whenever they try engaging you in a conversion you feel embarrassed right?
2. Whenever he/she starts talking to you an excuse pops up like; your best friends' sister in-laws' best friends' pet frog died and you need to be at the funeral immediately right?
So, why do we do that? Why do we treat some people like that? Is it that they aren't good enough for us? Do they have bad breath? Do they stink? What is it??
Now listen up, I do not suggest that this matter is funny in fact, it is a thing of shame that we treat some of our peers as lesser people, it is even a sin looking at it from the religious point of view. We ought to love everyone as we love ourselves right? So why do we really act this way towards these 'unpopular' people?....In my view and experience(when I mean 'experience' I mean as a teen interacting with other teens o, not that I'm some scientist or shrink), I would
say we act this way because other people neglect them. We ask ourselves, 'so if everyone does not talk to Ade because he wears thick glasses and does not like football, why should I?'Or 'why should I talk to that Mary girl when nobody bothers talking to her because
she's overweight) Mainly, that's it, we ignore the ignored, neglect the neglected. We think that if we talk to them, we'd automatically be termed as a 'freak'. But come on guys! If we just tried even for once to talk to them we'd actually get to understand why they behave the way they do. Ade might have a hole in his heart and Mary could just be
a girl who's overweight due to a rare form of brain disorder. It would shock you to know that at some point some of made them cry and not want to come to school ever again.
'So wetin this chick dey yarn?' You might ask. Here's what am here to say, how about putting a little bit of effort trying to know these nerds and geeks around us, who knows they might turn out to be that best friend you deserve. They might even share the same
interests and values as us. They may even be a good singer, acrobat, dancer, footballer, golfer, swimmer, cook, cyclist,writer, computer wizard as you are. The problem is that we haven't given some people around us a chance to share their opinions ,views and perspectives about issues.
People! Do not neglect that girl or boy in your class. Or try to diss them when they're trying to have a chat with you. Who knows whether you'd be the next geek or nerd and think how bad you'd feel if people neglected you didn't give a chance to prove yourself. I would
like to declare my love for everyone out there (well, except the rapists, terrorists and any other negative word ending in 'ist').
Now here's a toast to all those who have being neglected, bullied, harassed, ignored, termed 'ugly' to all the nerds, geeks and the 'unknowns' whose voices we do not hear in class but in the hallways whispering, to the unpopular; I love you and many more do too. Peace.
Written by: Grace Okogwu.
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