Hero Worship

I just saw this one where SpongeBob and Patrick go to the Bikini Bottom Jellyfish Convention, and they see their respective heroes: Kevin, a sea cucumber that heads the Jellyfish Spotters (the premier jellyfishing organization) and Jeffrey the Jellyfish. SpongeBob is super excited about meeting his hero Kevin, and will do anything to join his organization. Patrick tells SpongeBob that hero worship is bad and then chases his hero Jeffrey.

Meanwhile, SpongeBob meets Kevin and convinces him he should join the Jellyfish Spotters on a jellyfishing expedition. Kevin tells SpongeBob that he has to pass a test to join the club, and proceeds to create test after test that SpongeBob passes without even trying. Also, Kevin gets stung by every jellyfish that comes by. He finally tells SpongeBob that he has to catch a queen jellyfish, ties him to some poles and gives him a jellyfish call that says "loser". then they ditch him to jump in a mechanical "queen" jellyfish, and sting SpongeBob. They chase him to the edge of a cliff, and open up the jellyfish- showing SpongeBob that it's Kevin and his cronies. At the bottom of the cliff are a bunch of Kevin's other "biggest fans" that he has chased off the edge of the cliff. They are stuck at the bottom with no way out, but they are still excited that Kevin has come back to see them.

The "queen jellyfish" has attracted a king jellyfish, who goes after everybody and chases them into a hole in a rock, where Kevin admits he doesn't know what to do and that he's only in the Spotters for the fashion. SpongeBob goes out and blows a bubble that looks like pie ("who doesn't like pie?"), and the king jellyfish leaves happy.

The cronies want SpongeBob to be their leader in the club, but SpongeBob turns them down because "it's about the jellyfishing". Patrick tells him that he made the right choice, and that hero worship is unhealthy. As he says this, he is dragging Jeffrey the Jellyfish (who he has tied up and put in a wagon) home with him.

I liked that ultimately SpongeBob realized that it was about jellyfishing and not about being in an exclusive club. I particularly loved how Kevin was in it for the fashion and was a total jerk to everyone- both "uncool" fish who weren't in the club but also the "cool fish" that were in the club. Even the fish he chased off a cliff and left there- one of which looked like it had broken fins- still loved him. Even Patrick knows that hero worship is unhealthy. I think this is especially true when your hero is a total jerk.

My heroes, Aneeqa and Ann Bancroft, are not total jerks. But I wouldn't jump off of buildings for them, and I doubt they would ask me to.

To make a long story even longer, I have what my advisor politely calls "diverse interests" so I get myself into all kinds of activities and groups of people. I never feel like I am really solidly in those groups, which sometimes causes me to feel out of place. One example is the bike community. My roommates and some of my friends are totally into bikes. I like to ride my bike, I know how to fix some things on my bike, and I wear short pants. But sometimes I get the impression that it's more about the kind of bike you ride, the accessories you have, or races you do. Whatever, I just like the bike.

Another example is school. I like to think I am not "one of them" because I think the academics are often unrealistic and tiresome. Of course, not my friends. Most of the time :)

That said, I have often thought that it is easier to classify people you don't know- you can fit them in a nice neat little box. But once you know them, it's much harder because most people have something you won't expect. Then they spill out of the box and you don't know what to do with them. Of course, I prefer people that don't fit in boxes, and my friends generally tend to be people that don't even give the impression of fitting into a box.

Also, the best part about feeling like you don't fit in somewhere is that you can often find other people that feel the same way, and then you get to learn all kinds of new things about those people. I didn't feel like I fit in when I worked at the Girl Scouts because it was mostly older ladies from the suburbs, but I definitely connected with several of them for completely different reasons. When you are around people you don't "fit in with", you have to find something other than the most obvious thing (in this case my job) to connect you.