Why I'm Not an Idiot

Author's Note (to me and you)

If you want to skip this note, the first chapter of the real story is the next part.
But if you're interested in the background of this story, and about this note to my future self (and you guys!) you can stay for this chapter.
Here is my word vomit. I had the idea to write this part in the shower, so this should be interesting.

My name is Sofia Klein, I am twelve years old, and I am not an idiot.

This story you're about to read (hopefully) is about many things. Gay rights, obviously, is one of them. There's also stuff about family, friends, and trust. I think all these things are important, but that's not really the main idea of this book.

Sofia Klein of the future, I hope you're reading this.

Okay, so, let's just put this down real quick: I am a privileged white girl. I'm not bragging, and I'm not trying to attack anyone. I'm just stating a fact. I don't think there is a superior race, so I don't see why I would be bragging.

Anyway, aside from the "Starbucks, iPhones, and Uggs" jokes, I don't really have any stereotypes that apply to my race. Well, okay, sometimes people make jokes about me being Jewish, but I don't really care. There are some stereotypes that bug me, though.

First of all, of course, there's people being rude about gay stuff. I'm not gay, but I sometimes take the attacks personally. I've been through Instagram and YouTube comment fights about it. Even though I'll tell myself to never try that again, it's gonna happen.

So here's the part of this note where I finally get to the point. One stereotype that really annoys me is when people make fun of kids. In particular, twelve year olds. When I was eleven, I had the app iFunny. On the AppStore, it says iFunny is for people ages 17+. I ignored that, but when I got the app, I saw all the comments. Many of them said that some people on the app were "too young for iFunny". This didn't concern me. As I went on the app more and more, though, I kept seeing the comments mentioning "horny twelve year olds". Well, I was eleven, and I wasn't horny. So I ignored it, assuming it was just an iFunny thing. (Side note: I did not delete the app because of those people. I deleted it because I was spending too much time on it.)

Then, later on, a little after I turned twelve, I started following textpost accounts on Instagram. Don't get me wrong, I love textposts. But I started to see more and more posts about how stupid and annoying twelve year olds are, and it got me thinking.

I understand. Many kids in my grade are pretty stupid. (Yes, people in my school have this app and read my stories. I assure you, you're not the stupid ones. I'm talking about other people.) But, just like most stereotypes, there are exceptions. Now, I'm not saying that I'm some kind of genius, or that I'm superior. I bet there are people my age that think I'm annoying and stupid, too. I even annoy myself sometimes.

But I think the people who say these things about twelve year olds (and anyone young, for that matter) should think about it from our point of view. Sure, we're young. Sure, we can be a little bit idiotic sometimes (this doesn't make us idiots!). But to ourselves, we're the smartest we've ever been, the most experienced we've ever been, the oldest we've ever been. To us, our homework is just as hard as yours. To us, our middle school drama is just as bad as your high school drama. This is the best, and the worst, we've ever had. You can't say we're annoying just because we're twelve years old.

Jake, the main character of my story, has the same views as I do. He is barely fictional, because he is just a different version of me.

So unlike many other writers, I will not tell anyone who is homophobic, racist, sexist, or thinks that twelve year olds are idiots to leave. I will ask you to stay and read this story, if you want. Maybe it can teach you something.

And to my future self, I know you may laugh at this. Everyone laughs at their younger self. Hell, I laugh at my sixth grade class picture daily. But please, please, PLEASE don't loose yourself to the people who I've just talked about. You may laugh, but I hope you still understand that everything I just wrote is true, no matter what anyone else says. Keep writing, and try to finish this book.

I'd like to thank the people on Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, and other websites for annoying me enough to write a fucking book about my annoyance. I'd also like to thank the people some characters are based off of. I either love you or hate you, but at least you've made an impact on me.

Lastly, I'd like to thank my readers. Just knowing you care enough to read through this means so much to me. You're awesome, and don't you forget it.

Everyone, fight for what you believe in. You are not an idiot.

-Sofia Klein
Age 12
November 18th, 2014