This may come as a surprise to many who know me now, but in high school, I was considered the ditsy friend. I had lots of friends, it's true. But I'm not sure many of them ever respected me, or held my opinion in a high regard.

I was just starting to adjust to a life with Chronic Pain, which made my mind work a bit slower, and my grades a little worse than they should've been. The last place I thought I would find judgment was with my friends; but, unfortunately, that's where it stemmed from.

I always felt out of place with my high school friends, looking back at it now. They would get into heated debates for fun, and then talk about each other constantly behind their backs. This seemed normal to me for a while. I tried to stay out of drama, for the most part, seeing as I had my own personal issues to deal with.

Within the last year or so, I discovered that several of my close friends always thought I was exceptionally vapid. I quite literally had started a Non-Profit Organization, but that wasn't enough for them to acknowledge my insight on any matter.

Now I've been out of that situation for several years, I've made friends who not only recognize my intellect but actually ask for my advice. I had to do some serious soul searching to actually make the realization that these people were being ignorant when they misjudged me. Not only that, but we, as a civilization, are foolish in our ways of judging mental capacity.

It's extremely easy for us, as human beings, to find something we are passionate about, and then assume that those who don't share our interests are simply dimwitted. Some people I knew made fun of a girl who I went to high school with for becoming a hairdresser instead of going to college. Somehow because she didn't feel the need to pursue a Bachelor's Degree it automatically made her idiotic.

The thing about saying that you are more intelligent than someone else is that it's simply not true.

Being an English Literature Major, I probably know more about Victorian Era Authors than this girl who does hair for a living. But, if she were to hand me a pair of scissors right now and tell me to cut 3 inches off someone's hair, I would be completely dumbfounded. She knows more than I do in that respect, and always will. Her knowledge of hair is something I will never be able to fully understand. So then why is what she does for a living any less respectable than what I do?

Intelligence is subjective.

You cannot compare the intelligence of two people in different fields or else you'll go mad. This being said, it's also ridiculous to compare intelligence to someone in your own field as well when people are continuing to learn every day.

Why put people down when you can teach them? Why be jealous of someone when you can learn from them?

Our world is ruled by the subconscious mindset of comparison. I'm here today asking you to stop comparing and start learning.

Understanding that we are not all the same is the key to living in harmony. I will write all the rest of my life and marvel at not only doctors who can save lives, but at the mechanics who can fix cars. Both are things I can't accomplish.

Choose to learn more about life and the elements around you, but do not ever keep faith in thinking that you are better than another human being. We are all unique and we must accept that, instead of looking down upon others who have different talents than we do.

Everyone is intelligent in their own manner, and we all contribute to our world in some way. That is something to keep in mind and celebrate.