One funny thing about geeks is that they may not seem attractive in high school, but once they're adults they tend to become more successful than the ordinary people around them. A geek girl everyone overlooked in high school might not only turn out to be great company a little later, but learn along the way to use makeup and pick attractive clothing. Suddenly, you might look at her and say, “Wow! How in the world did I overlook her in school? She's beautiful and brilliant!”

Male geeks who seem like they are awkward and tongue-tied as teens can also bloom as adults. Many of them, besides their original interest in math or technology or music, also take up exotic sports like SCUBA diving or mountain-climbing. Suddenly, you look at a guy you thought was just a computer geek, and he's become a hunk – and has a rugged, outdoor complexion, too.

So geeks are useful.

But more than that – they can teach us something important about life.

You see, the essence of geekdom is that the geek cares a lot about some subject and wants to understand it completely. The geek wants to be a master at whatever he or she loves, whether it's computers or flowers. So the geek is more likely to make an informed decision than to depend on someone else to decide what to do, how to think, how to succeed, what's healthy and unhealthy, and even what's fun. It can be useful to adopt a bit of a geek attitude even if you're not in it for the whole game.