When Nathan Scott from 'One Tree Hill' had a shirt on, I was able to pay attention and learn the following lessons:
1. Insecurities make you a jerk
In season 1, Nathan is controlled by his father for his every move, and this in turn had an effect on how he treated others around him. He pushed away Lucas Scott, his half-brother, because he was scared of his father's disapproval of him because Lucas was clearly better than him at basketball, but he didn't want to accept this; and hence treated Lucas like he was nothing more than an outsider at Tree Hill High or anywhere else.
2. Reputation is not always everything
When Nathan decides to get help from Haley James, a tutor, to get back at Lucas for beating him at the river court, he had no idea he'd end up falling for someone as innocent as her. His type was more cheerleader or prom queen, and Haley was far from either of those. He has dinner with her one night when he encounters his friend, and denies it being a date as he is embarrassed to be seen with Haley, but later realizes his mistake and calls Haley his "girlfriend" in front of his basketball team, not caring about what his teammates would think about him dating a tutor and not a cheerleader. You do you, Nathan.
3. Making decisions against your parents' wishes is alright
I agree that our parents shape us and who we are supposed to be in the future, but sometimes making our decisions tells us who we are in our own ways, and that's when we learn the best. I also agree that moving out of your parents' house to marry the love of your life in high school is kind of extreme and could probably only happen in TV shows like these, but it was amazing how much of an adult and self-sufficient human being Nathan evolved into after falling in love with Haley, which also helped him realize how his parents' toxic relationship was spoiling him as well.
4. People can change
For anyone who has gotten through at least 2 seasons of One Tree Hill, you can tell the huge change that defined Nathan Scott throughout his high school career. He became more respecting and inclusive, and became the best team player anyone could've seen. Nathan may have seemed like that snobby rich kid who can never live without his trust fund, but in the end, he turned out to be exactly the opposite, because the person who mattered the most to him believed in him, which helped him change for the better and get through tough situations.
5. It's okay to not meet someone's expectations of you
In season 3, Nathan asks Haley: "If this is the best it ever gets for me, high school basketball, would that be enough for you?", and Haley says it's more than enough as long as he is happy and make a good father to their son. This is when he learned that he doesn't always have to be at the top of his game like his father advised him to be, there are more important things to focus on and be good at, like accepting yourself for who you are and being happy with how much ever you can do. And this is when we learned this too.
Whether in high school or not, whether he went to college or not didn't matter to him as long as the people he loved the most around him believed in him and his abilities to be great in this world, and that he caused no harm to anyone, was the most important lesson he taught us all throughout the 8 seasons of One Tree Hill.
