Poor little bastard

I have something against exceptional kids. I guess it has to do with some very deep envy. As a result, I hate hearing about lovable, unusually-talented young actors such as Haley Joel Osment or, more recently, Dakota Fanning. (Perhaps the only exception is Doogie Howser, who indeed I like, perhaps because I am sure Doogie's a fictional character while I am not). The negative feeling is accentuated when I hear of kids mastering outstanding skills in areas in which I really wish I was more talented, such as music or science; I can't stand hearing of, for instance, 6 year-old violinists/pianists/composers, or of 30 year-old mathematicians winning Field medals.

I guess that comparing yourself against concrete examples of (intellectual) superiority is simply overwhelming. Often, when I hear of such examples my initial reaction is rather simplistic and things such as "well, I actually had a childhood and it was kinda fun" come to my mind; then, when I realize the shallowness of my argument, I end up appealing to my theory of "one is never the extreme of things", which I already mentioned here. In any case, I think there's a constant excitement in understanding (and living with the fact) that one's just plain normal, and that such a condition comes with pros and cons.

Having said that, I am most happy to report I found the case of an exceptional kid I do not envy at all: a child prodigy in politics. I am taking about Jonathan Krohn, a 13 year-old kid who wrote a book called Define Conservatism. Poor little bastard. Instead of doing normal stuff American kids do at age 13 (say, being part of a criminal gang, or experimenting with alcohol, drugs, sex and/or their combinations) this little guy chose to wrote a book and to follow McCain's campaign. Even weirder, Jonathan got into politics at the age of six (!). He now gives brief addresses in conservative committees; you can see Jonathan in action here.