I was in GT in the 80s but my friends (who are at least as smart as me with better grades) were not. Basically I was Bart Simpson and incredibly distracting in

I was in GT in the 80s but my friends (who are at least as smart as me with better grades) were not. Basically I was Bart Simpson and incredibly distracting in class because I just couldn't stand learning the same things over and over from 1st grade to 6th grade. So they put me in GT to challenge me and keep me off the remedial track and staying after school with 4 checkmarks after my name.. which still happened constantly anyway. My friends grew up to be happy and successful, while I still struggle with depression and burnout. It's actually a running joke now on social media: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gifted%20kid%20burnout https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gifted%20kid... https://www.reddit.com/r/BurntOutGiftedKids/ https://www.reddit.com/r/BurntOutGiftedKids/ https://www.tiktok.com/tag/burntoutgiftedkids https://www.tiktok.com/tag/burntoutgiftedkids In some ways, the world is far worse today than when I was growing up, but GT filled my head with idealism. I thought we'd be on our way to a Star Trek meritocracy for all the peoples of the world by now, not various dystopias converging on A Christmas Carol or The Handmaid's Tale. People can vehemently disagree with my take on that but.. look at an arial view of Mexico City slums. Or the wealth inequality in Dubai. Or any glacier, coral reef or rain forest. Daily life for billions of people is a living nightmare and the things I personally care about are mostly in decline. Writing all of this out, I'm realizing that GT isn't what I thought it was (an art colony) but is more like Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Maybe someone predicted how bad things would get and created a youth league to someday combat it. Maybe now's our time, and we should quit feeling sorry for ourselves and the fate of the world and step up to saving it..