By Jerry Maynard
There are many things I am grateful to God for in my life but surely at the top of that list are Jesus, my smoking hot wife, my fellow Nerd Union writers, and branching from that, my nerdiness. It’s that nerdiness that brings you this post today. Our nerdiness is a common factor for all of us here today (or at least you are reading this because you are close to someone who is nerdy), and in today’s world, having common ground is something we in the United States have lost sight of. But that is a weakness or flaw that perhaps we have been blessed with a way out of. We have a way to not share in what has become one of country’s greatest weaknesses
Currently our country is divided by several major factors not the least of which are Politics, Religion, Sexuality, and Race. These differences between each of us, however, do not have to divide nerds in the same destructive way that it seems to have plagued the rest of our society. Yes it is important to deal with those issues but our “nerd culture” seems to have a certain immunity to the destructive capacity those outside our culture that don’t seem to have. In this regard, yes, two of us may very well disagree on who would be the best President, but in the same span of 10 minutes we can have our disagreement but also be able to find common ground in regards to our favorite superhero, video game, upcoming movies, musicians, or even a common hatred of a bad movie adaptation.
….Sigh…..
You see, you can have a republican of the far right and a democrat of the far left sit in a room and talk about their disagreements for hours and hours until they are left blue in the face, or they have decided to murder one another, but I bet you that it would be a far more productive conversation if upon walking in the room they both take note of the batman shirt the other is wearing and start their conversation from a recap of the Dark Knight’s greatest adventures and triumphs. Or perhaps two people of different ethnicities have come from very different backgrounds and upbringings and while they may have differences in how society treats them in regards to skin color or social standing they can both remember how much joy they found in defeating the Elite Four the first time, or the laughter they had when watching The Hulk literally throw Loki around like a rag doll in the first Avengers film, or even some of their favorite moments from the movie the Lion King(I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like that movie but if you don’t, please feel free to let me know).
The point that I’m trying to make is that yes, there are LOTS of things in society which divide us and those issues matter and should be dealt with, not ignored, however, those people who might disagree with you also might be a fellow Green Lantern fan, X-Men fanatic, fellow Deadpool cosplayer, Whovian, or perhaps even one who has felt the sorrow dealt to us by Sephiroth’s blade in that sad moment of Final Fantasy VII(not gonna spoil anything for anyone who hasn’t played it yet.) The very person you may rage against for your opinions sake could be your brother or sister in many other regards, both of the nerd variety and other aspects of life! We are all human and prone to differences but we must not forget that even though our opinions may be passionate about 1 or 5 topics, there could be 60 other areas in which our opponents and ourselves agree and have common ground.
We must remember that we all may disagree but we all can find places in which we are not so different from one another. To further push this point home, it is worth noting that it’s not only just the dorkiness we discuss on our site that we may find common ground on but maybe even more. Maybe you and the person whom your disagree with both share a favorite sports team, wrestler, book, hobby, love of cooking, favorite food, or favorite store(TARGET!) Let our differences grow us and make us better not divide us and I hope that we may find common ground and perhaps be a union of Nerds and not a nation divided.
United we will stand,
Jerry Maynard
About Author
