Last week, Laney Austin í11 wrote about how awkward everyone on this campus is.† Iím not going to argue with her ó there are a lot of awkward people at Wooster.† And sometimes they can be hard to deal with.† Even I, as a somewhat awkward person, often find those more awkward than I† am trying to be at times.† But these people serve an important function.† I believe that it is awkward people who make this campus great.
Awkward people come in two basic types ó those who are naturally awkward, and those who are awkward by choice.† The naturally awkward could also be said to be awkward by ignorance ó they simply do not know how to interact with other people.† Most of these people do not know that they are awkward.†† They are not able to look at themselves objectively and see that they donít fit in.
This isnít their fault.† When you look at them from the outside, social norms are really weird and screwed up.† Itís kind of amazing anyone is able to conform to them at all.† Some social norms are necessary and actually make society run more smoothly.† Others, however, are fairly arbitrary.† For example, some of you may have observed that I often sing when walking from place to place.† I donít think my doing so harms anyone. But people give me weird looks because it is not something ìnormal” people do.
Probably the most dangerous of these arbitrary social norms is the concept of tact.† The intention of tact is to keep people from saying hurtful or offensive things, which is a laudable goal.† But the result is often just the opposite.† People donít talk about things that are uncomfortable, and often that results in people getting hurt.† Awkward people donít understand what they are and are not supposed to say, so they often say the things everyone else needs to hear.
This is why some people are awkward by choice.† They understand that while social norms are sometimes necessary, sometimes they can be pointless or even harmful.† These people revere Emerson and Thoreau.† Sometimes they come off as a bit pretentious, but they have the right idea.† They donít do things just because society tells them to, they do what makes sense to them.
Both of these groups of people tend to be very good at thinking outside the box.† They can see the constraints in other peopleís thinking and find ways around them. This makes them ideal Wooster students.† This school places an enormous emphasis on critical thinking and individualism.† Awkward students, whether their awkwardness is natural or self-imposed, are individualists.
All that being said, most people who are naturally awkward probably would like to be less awkward.† And avoiding them, as Austin suggests, is not going to help them achieve that goal.† So if you do find yourself interacting with some of the more awkward people at this school, donít be afraid to point out, gently, some of the social norms theyíre ignoring.† They may thank you for it.