Memory's Vault: Being a "Boring Kid" and What Thereof Follows

I don't exactly remember the first time someone called me "boring." Kids can be pretty cruel to each other... and often there are certain things we were "called" that stick with us for the rest of our lives.

However, I am pretty sure it involved some situation in which one of my childhood friends wanted to engage in some harebrained scheme doomed to failure, or at least to a painful ending and substantial parental punishment... or maybe all of the above.

I'm pretty sure I was around eight or nine years of age, at the time. What I do remember clearly was that I begged off, because I could visualize the entire chain of disasters unfold, inside my head.

"Don't be so BORING!"

As a teenager, I was boring because I thought the idea of skipping school and ending up in detention was stupid, and I thought cigarettes were stupid.

I also thought "borrowing" someone's parents' car and driving around without a license was stupid.

In college, I was thoroughly boring because I wanted to do things with my weekends other than drinking myself senseless, experimenting with drugs and then waking up next to "some girl" whose name I didn't feel entirely certain about... but who was certain to turn into a creepy stalker, from that point forward. Some thought I was thoroughly boring because I had no interest in getting stoned or using nose candy to "alter" my state of being.

As I reflect on my life — from the far side of age 60 — I recognize that the typical reason I got labeled as "boring" was pretty directly tied to the fact that I seemed able to recognize "stupid activities" as stupid, before engaging in them... and then choosing not to do them... thereby opening the possibility that their instigators — by association — were also stupid, rather than "carefree and exciting."

So what got me started on this post while reflecting on "being boring" was the recognition of just how contradictory our value systems tend to be.

On one hand, we place a very high value on "the individual," and on "independent thinking," and on "creating your own reality." We tend to admire those who march to the beat of their own drummer. And yet, we also tend to negatively label those who tend to not follow the dominant "group think" paradigm; those who don't succumb to peer pressure... by, for example, calling them "boring" for choosing non-action when the most likely outcome is complete disaster.

Alas, this kind of duality seems to be present in so much of the human experience. I'm glad I have grown (almost!) too old to care...!

Thanks for reading, and have a great remainder of your week!

How about YOU? Have you ever been called "boring" because of an unwillingness to participate in blatantly risky behavior doomed to end badly? Give me a shout back... Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 20210308 23:32 PST
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