Revenge of the Nerds

The passions that drive us

I played varsity basketball in high school. OK, maybe “played” is a stretch since I was firmly planted on the bench, a second string stalwart. As junior year turned to senior, I started to wonder why I bothered. Sure, sports teach teamwork, discipline, hard work, and so on, but so does drama, science club, school newspaper, or any of the other, less “popular” extracurriculars offered back then. The fact is, while I wasn’t a bad basketball player, I feel like my time would have been better spent participating in something closer to my interests and personality. But then, being on a sports team was cool, while those other pursuits were for nerds. What I didn’t realize back then was, I was a nerd, and still am—a tweed wearing, pipe smoking, watch collecting, old truck driving, fiction writing nerd. And I couldn’t be happier.

If television shows are any indication of trends in human society, I’d say the nerds are winning. Just witness TV series like, “Stranger Things,” where the decidedly uncool devotees of the A-V Club and Dungeons and Dragons turn out to be heroes. Or the popular British comedy series, “Detectorists,” that has become a newfound favorite of mine, in which two pals, Andy and Lance, walk the meadows and farm fields of Essex waving their metal detectors in the hope of turning up meaningful ancient artifacts but usually only finding bottle tops and Matchbox cars. This show speaks to me in so many ways.

“Detectorists” is an endearing story about the small scale passions of ordinary people that make life extraordinary. The two main characters’ day jobs are decidedly humble—one drives a forklift for a farm produce company and the other takes day work cutting weeds on roadsides or running a floor polisher at an empty office building. Neither is particularly athletic or what you’d call handsome. But they know that real happiness comes not from their jobs, nor from popularity, but from their personal passion, which they take very seriously. While the casual observer may see what they do as a waste of time, a dip into their world reveals their deep knowledge of Roman and Saxon artifacts, coins, precious metals, and even beer can ring pulls (pull tabs). Their friendship with each other was forged on rainy days walking muddy fields or on tea breaks under a tree discussing their finds, as well as nuggets of philosophy. They both belong to a local club of other “detectorists,” who share the hobby and have regular meetings to listen to each other’s boring presentations and show off their usually meager finds. 

I didn’t intend this column to be a review of a discontinued TV series, but “Detectorists” warms my heart because it reminds me of so many people and pastimes and passions I’ve run across in my adult life. I’ve come to really appreciate not only those who share my own arcane interests, but who really take anything to a deeper level of commitment.