What to do when someone picks on you

Watch on YouTube

Transcript:

Girl: Wh...When you were a kid, were you uh...were you called a nerd? And if so how did you deal with it?

Wheaton: When I was a little boy I was called a nerd all the time, because... I didn't like sports, uh, I loved to read, I liked math and science, I thought school was really cool, and uh... it hurt. A lot. Because it's...it's never okay when a person makes fun of you for something like you didn't chose. You know? We don't chose to be nerds. We can't help it that we like these things, and we shouldn't apologize for liking these things. [inaudible]. I wished I could tell you there's a really easy way to just not care, but the truth is: it hurts. But here's a thing that... you might be able to understand - as a matter of fact I'm confident you'll be able to understand because you asked this question. When a person makes fun of you, when a person's cruel to you, it has nothing to do with you. It's not about what you said, it's not about what you did, it's not about what you love. It's about them feeling bad about themselves. They feel sad. They don't get positive attention from their parents, they don't feel as smart as you, they don't understand the things that you understand. Maybe one of their parents is really pushing them to be a cheerleader, or a baseball player, or an engineer, or something that they just don't want to do. So they take that out on you, because they can't go and be mean to the person who's actually hurting them. So...when a person is cruel to you like that - I know this is hard but honestly - the kind, and best reaction is...to...to pity them. And don't let them make you feel bad because you love a thing. Maybe find out what they love, and talk about it: How they love it. I bet you find out that a person who loves tether-ball loves it exactly the same way you love Dr. Who. But you just love different things, and I will tell you this. It absolutely gets better as you get older. And, and... I know it's really hard when you're in school and surrounded by the same four hundred people a day that pick on you and make you feel bad about yourself, but there's fifty thousand people here this week who went through the exact same thing, and we're all doing really well. [Don't feel pressured that a person makes you feel bad] because you love something they decided is only for nerds. [You're loving the things for you.] Thanks for your question.