This is basically what it is like mentoring autistic teenagers. My mom convinced me to develop better social skills by explaining to me that Lawrence of Arabia (a special interest at the time) needed to blend in and win the trust of the Arab leaders in order to defeat the Ottomans, and I was like “damn, I need to be Lawrence of Arabia, but for my high school volleyball team, learn their ways, become one of them, and lead them to victory.”

I often explained to autistic boys interested in the military that they needed to think of themselves as green berets doing partner force training.

Eventually you get to the point where you realize that if it is stupid and it works, it isn’t stupid.