It was in fourth grade that I truly came to terms with the fact that I was different. In quantum physics class, the other kids paid rapt attention to the professor as they solved many of cosmology's most famous equations. Me? I was daydreaming about going outside and playing. In the cafeteria, there would be long debates about every topic from evolution to organic chemistry. I just ate my lunch and then took a walk. During library period, my peers would read every single book they could find, filling their brains with so much information that it would make my head burst. I would be finding old videos of baseball games to watch on my phone.

They didn't show their disdain for me in the old-fashion way of throwing taunts in my face. No, they were far too elite for that. It was always in whispers behind my back, or wrapped in rhetoric like "if you had studied chapter 3, you would understand that that the universe is slowing expanding." I never had any friends and was always the last person chosen for the debate team. When I once suggested to the school administrator that we add a PE program for physical health, he laughed at me and suggested that I make better use of the adjustable standing desks in the classroom.

For years I was depressed, wondering why I had been the victim of such a horrible fate. I prayed to whatever deities were up there so that I could be like the others. At night I cried just wanting a friend. It wasn't until high school that I decided that there was no changing my situation and that I would persevere and make the best of this life that I could. I'd be grateful for the things I had and not bemoan what I didn't. I'd find my true talents and make the best use of them I could.

I began to study the others, not just looking at their super-intelligence as a strength, but as a coin with two sides. Intellect allowed them to solve the hardest problems and store vast quantities of information, but it seemed to make them put that information up on a pedestal. The more I noticed, I saw that one of their primary weaknesses was that instead of acting, they needed to research everything. So much of their time would be spent trying to figure the problem out, that they almost never got anything done. I wasn't encumbered by this weakness. Acting came readily to me, as I really didn't care if I was perfectly right or not.

Where this lack of acting seemed to be most impactful was in the government, which was a sprawl of bureaucracy so thick that it accomplished nothing. Production of key items such as food and medicine had fallen to critical levels because nobody could decide on which ones to allow and disallow, or whether or not the side effects were worth the benefit. There were endless debates about whether or not substances such as caffeine were harmful or beneficial, and at what temperature you should administer acetaminophen. Meanwhile, people were suffering without the drug.

I began on the city council, trampling over people as I just started giving orders. So exhausted from debate and inaction, the others on the council started following my lead. I was getting things done. From there it was the regional government, then the national government, and finally where I am today: Supreme Ruler of the World. Now the kids who made fun of me in class all those years ago bow at my feet.

Intelligence isn't all that it's cracked up to be.