Obvious

For reasons I can no longer remember and probably wouldn't understand, in second grade we had "elections" for our favorite dinosaurs. It was a full democratic process; we even had private booths and ballots to circle our choices. Tyrannosaurus Rex and Brontosaurus were the obvious popular choices for the carnivore and herbivore elections, respectively. They won easily, but I voted for the Allosaurus and Stegosaurus.

In fifth grade, Miss Hunter had us spend extensive time on the Revolutionary War. We read books, watched videos, even performed skits. At the end of the year she had us write a report on anyone from the time. George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and Paul Revere were the obvious popular choices. But I decided to do my report on William Dawes, the other man who rode along warning that the British were, in fact, coming (Unfortunately, these were the pre-mainstream-internet days, and my encyclopedia had a whopping two lines on Dawes, so I ended up writing a last-minute report on John Paul Jones).

My friends and I did a history reenactment project in seventh grade. The three of us were gonna bring the class back to 1969, when man first landed on the moon. At our first class meeting, Garrett and J.D. argued over who would get to be Neil Armstrong. I didn't care. After all, I wanted to be Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. Neil Armstrong was a bit too obvious.

I remember being on a school trip sophomore year of high school, and some kid started talking about colleges. I was at the top of my class at the time, and the inevitable question swung my way whether I was going to apply to Harvard or Yale. Nah, I thought. All the smartest students apply there. I'd set my sights on Duke or Cornell or Brown (Naturally, I ended up applying early acceptance at the University of Florida).

This is what I'm trying to figure out: all these years, have I been going against the grain because I want to be unique and stand out, or do I really want to be the other guy?

Am I tuly unique or afraid of the top?