It would never occur to most people sitting in the audience that this would hurt you deeply. You clap as heartily as the rest of your classmates. You smile as the honor student slides by you to pick up her award. You have it down pat. You have spent a good deal of your school career being the backdrop for someone else's glory.
People say the smart kids, the leaders, are under so much pressure today.
But it's never been harder to be average. The word used to have a good feel about it. The average American kid. It meant a good person, the kind of unpretentious, sturdy, nice-natured kid whom everybody pulled for. Then something happened to America.