I was a pretty good student in high school (over-achiever). I was neither popular nor unpopular: class president not by popularity, but default (no one else would do it) and salutatorian more by accident than effort (I became a serious student much later in life).
Like most stereotypes* might lead you to believe, we good, girl-students (back in my day) excelled at the humanities. I was a good writer and loved to read; I liked history, and truly excelled at music and art. Math, science and technological endeavors were a mystery to me (though back when I was in high school “tech ed” = shop class, and computers had barely been introduced into my poor, rural school. And yes, I’m totally dating myself here).
*Please note, I hate this stereotype, and especially today, I do not believe it to be any longer true. My educator heart needed to throw that in here.
Partially because it was high school and high school is about low self esteem and judging others (hey, I don’t make the rules)...and partially because I was semi-popular and thereby forced to make someone else feel badly in an attempt to hold this semi-popular status...and mostly because it was all sorts of a mystery to me, the kids that got the butt of most of my jokes were the computer science dudes.
They were always running around, talking to each other in a language that I didn’t understand. They concerned themselves with physics and math in ways that truly escaped me. And let’s be honest, they weren’t doing themselves any favors to help out their “cool” cause. The computer guys were geeky, quiet, often friendless, and completely happy to sit in small rooms with huge “computer machines” performing mysterious functions all by themselves that they didn’t tell anyone else about. Alas, we do in fact fear what we do not understand.
Today, while standing on top of a humvee almost 7000 miles away, J called me... from his International Satellite Cell phone. After a lovely 5 minute conversation, I was able to call J back from my NETBOOK computer on my SKYPE account at a cheaper rate than many national phone calls. And yes, sometimes the call was “tinny”. And yes, J had to do a little bit of a wiggle dance there to find the best signal-- aim over metal barriers and face the nearest (far) cell phone tower (not gonna lie, this image was very amusing (and endearing) to me). I showered, got ready for work and then was able to READ HIS EMAILS (plural) that he sent to me from his new middle-of-nowhere-desert-office desk.
I’m as romantic as the next gal (romantic = romanticizing- appreciating the long ago, far away, simpler times). I like imagining the whimsical days of yore, when handwritten letters were the only way that wives kept up with their husbands at war, hopefully licking a stamp, saying a prayer, and putting blind faith in the postal service, all the while longing, aching to hear from loved ones. I can only imagine and appreciate those intrepid communicators and the beauty of the handwritten correspondences of old.
And wow, am I glad that’s not me.
And so, while I have no official capacity to declare such a day, I would like to unofficially dub this day the National nay, International (hell, as long as I’m giving myself authority to do things I have no authority to do, I might as well dream big) Hug a Computer Geek Day. For all my past transgressions against you, today I apologize. Thank you for locking yourselves in the tech closet. Thank you for transcending the taunts and scoffing at the nay-sayers. Thank you for studying and understanding math and technology far more than I ever could /will/do. And thank you for your small part in making a year-long deployment just a little bit more bearable for this Army spouse.
I do not deserve your kindnesses, but I certainly do appreciate them.
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