a person who is new to a subject, skill, or belief.
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Today I'mma talk about neophytes, or, as the majority of our age bracket would call them,
n00bs.
Now this particular word has a lot of different connotations which is fascinating to me because it has only entered common parlance in the past few years. It is usually used as a derogatory to insult people. It's intended to have a pernicious effect, lowering people's self esteem, while elevating the insulter to feel superior. Mr. Fro himself has called me one more times than there are hairs on his size-fluctuating head.
But like a lot of derogatory words, it is usually employed by people low self-worth to depreciate others to exalt themselves at least one peg above utterly deplorable. By this I mean that the kind of people who usually call people n00bs are those who are already n00bs at life.
To me, this word (and other similar words like amateur, neophyte, novice,etc.) illustrates a really important truth about life.
When I worked at the day camp, the kids playing Super Smash Bros. would usually call one another n00bs.
This was funny to me because they would insult each other for lacking skill, but from my perspective, they were all terrible at the game. As I watched each kid self-destruct and fall of the stage more times then they actually were able to hit one another, all the while calling each other 'n00bs', I laughed to myself, thinking how I could beat each and every one of them with one Control Stick tied behind my pack. Actually, I don't know how that would work . . .
Anyway, I suddenly remembered that I had once been just as bad. I remember vividly the first times I had played SSB with Froface and how he had beaten the ever-loving tar out of me as I tried desperately to land a blow while frantically moving my character from falling off the edge. It was awful to watch, I was embarrassingly bad at that game. But, even JoeFro was terrible at videogames once upon a time. I remember him being beaten by a friend of ours from elementary school just as badly as he beats me nowadays. I thought about how we were all once inexperience novices at one point or another.
I realized while watching the kids that we're all n00bs at some point in our lives. In fact, no one's good at everything, so we're all n00bs at something or other. Whenever kids make fun of each other for being unskilled, it reminds me of my own days growing up and being made fun of (and also making fun of others) for lack of talent. And no matter how much I think I have grown up, I know that I'm really not that different of a person than I was when I was a child. I still suck at a lot of things and I still chastise others for not being as smart or skilled as I am. But as I grow older, I have to acknowledge that I am by no means perfect at everything and while others may appear inadequate to me, I too was once a novice, or a n00b.
It doesn't matter how 'good' we are at anything. God doesn't care how skilled we are, and neither should we. What does matter is that we recognize what talents we have learned and what things we have become skilled at so that we can do those things to the best of our ability in improving the world around us. I would much rather be mildly adequate at something and use that skill to help people, than be amazing at something and use it only for my own selfish purposes. God has given us skill and talent so that we can use them to make the world a better place, or, as the Green Brothers put it, "Decrease World Suck".
So, going back to my original example, I may have felt smug watching the kids playing videogames, but instead of just acting superior towards them, I used my talents to help the kids earn more characters and levels in the game, so that we could all have more fun playing together.
So this is why people who call other n00bs are actually the biggest n00bs: If we spend our whole lives tearing each other down, we lose the ability to use the talents and gifts we've been given to help out one another and make the world a less-horrible place to inhabit. If you live your life with the inability to love other people and make their lives as well as your own better, you are a n00b at living.
We are all neophytes, but when we, as amateurs, come together, with the help of a higher power, we can accomplish something truly great that we could never do on our own. I like using my talents to help out people, whether it be in ministry or just by listening to people's problems. I know that I still have a lot that I can learn while I'm here on Earth, but I still want to use what knowledge and abilities I have acquired to help others learn to use their own talents they have been given.
Anyway, that's what I have to say about being a neophyte.
Oh, and on a side-note, I would like to note that Quid-Pro-Fro has never used the word n00b in a negative way to me. He says it to people that frustrate him (especially on CoD), but when he calls me one, it's in a joking way that means no real harm. It makes me laugh and I love him for it.
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So anyway, I just wanted to apologize for not being able to update the thread for a while! I should have told you earlier that I was thinking about giving up Facebook for Lent! It's been something that's been on my mind for a while as Facepage and other websites can really distract me from getting my work done. I also wanted to follow my Youth Pastor's example of making Lent an annual cumulative thing. I like the idea that every year, I challenge myself to give up something new in addition to what I gave up last year. It gets exponentially challenging, but I want to give it all I've got!
However, this doesn't mean that I don't want to talk to you!!!! Never never never never never never ever fornever ever!!!! In fact, what I was thinking was that we could skype more in the next few months. I really enjoyed that time we talked together in January (even though I had dorm meeting then) and I was wondering if there is a time of day or week that works best for you. We can ever talk while we're studying or doing papers if, like our spare block together. They were incredibly unproductive yes, but some of the best times I had in high school.
So does that work for you? Let me know via text or on my email, which is just my name @gmail.com. Or you can skypechat me when you get time!
Have a great day Tim! Keep on catching 'em all!
See ya,
-Clayton
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