Gathering buzz from the Sundance Film Festival, the movie Bully comes out in theaters March 30. The documentary film follows five characters and their experiences, from kids who are harassed every day to parents who have lost a child as a result of bully-driven abuse. Bully brings attention to a pervasive problem in America that is often overlooked or shrugged off, and I can’t wait to see it.

I never really “got” bullying. I know some psychiatrist would say kids do it because they’re insecure and even at a young age society feels the need to separate the “winners” from the “losers,” but I never really understood the concept of why someone would do it. To me, it seems counter intuitive to make nerds hate you. Here’s why:

The richest person in America isn’t Brad Pitt. It’s Bill Gates. He’s worth 59 BILLLION dollars. Brad Pitt’s net worth, on the other hand, is a comparatively meager 150 million dollars, a sum of money I’m sure Gates hands out to trick-or-treaters on Halloween instead of Skittles. Brad has washboard abs, a perfect smile, and a hot girlfriend, but Bill Gates could probably buy Brad Pitt plus Angelina Jolie and their menagerie of ethnically diverse children and reprogram them to do his bidding. Granted, he won’t because he’s a “humanitarian,” but you get the picture.

“NUUUUURRRRRRRDDDDDDSSSSSSS!”

High school ends, and afterwards, there’s a big world out there where your status is less dependent on good hair and who you’re dating, and more focused on ideas and innovation. The nerds, geeks, dorks, and losers may have not been with the in-crowd, but they eventually serve up a nice ol’ slice of humble pie in the future. Here’s three reasons to be nice to nerds:

#1 Nerds are more successful

In The Social Network, Mark Zuckerberg invents Facebook not just because it revolutionizes college student interaction, but on a greater level, to redefine society’s power structure. When it’s evident he will never get into a Harvard Finals Club, not because he doesn’t have the grades but because he doesn’t come from a rich or influential family, Zuckerberg “borrows” (some may say steal) The Winklevoss Twins’ idea for an online community exclusive to Ivy League schools where students can post personalized profiles. He knows this idea will be popular because of his prior work with a website named Face Mash he created, for giggles mostly, in which he hacked into dormitory mainframes to steal pictures of female co-eds so he could put them side by side for students to compare. This venture managed to piss off Harvard administration and every female on campus, but it proved to Zuckerberg he was onto something big.

When pitching the idea of Facebook to his friend Eduardo Saverin to secure financial backing, Zuckerberg says, “Eduardo, it’s like Finals Club, except we’re the president.” It doesn’t matter that Zuckerberg doesn’t come from the “right” family who goes to the “right” country club and knows the “right” people. He creates Facebook because he’s the only one smart enough to know how.

Zuckerberg is now worth 17 billion dollars, and he’s only my age, a piece of data which makes me want to jump off a cliff.

#2 Nerds are more interesting

While popular high school kids are out partying, engaging in pre-marital relations, and plotting how to dump a bucket of pig’s blood on the school outcast at prom, nerds are pursuing their interests. Whether it’s video games, computers, movies, or reading, nerds don’t let socializing get in their way of a good old Saturday night alone with their hobbies. Going back to Bill Gates, Richest Man in the History of Time, I’m assuming he spent a lot of weekends alone in his parent’s garage tinkering with circuit boards rather than executing perfect form keg stands at underage ragers.

While popular kids coast by on their good looks or family affluence, nerds are making themselves into more well-rounded people. This point is best depicted by a cartoon by TheOatmeal.com titled “What they should have taught us senior year of high school.” After high school, your ability to make friends is not congruent to your ability to play sports, and those who internalize their experiences into ambition eventually come out on top.

#3 You won’t end up on someone’s “People to Kill List”

“Boy, am I glad I called that guy.”

Remember the scene in Billy Madison when Adam Sandler calls Steve Buscemi and apologizes for being such an a-hole to him in high school? Little did Adam Sandler’s character know that Steve Buscemi’s character is a gun enthusiast who promptly crossed Sandler off of his “People to Kill List” when he made it right. Then Steve Buscemi puts on red lipstick. That was a close one, Billy!

This point is as much about being a decent human being as it is about survival. The sad truth is that 13 million kids will be bullied this year. That’s crazy. While standing up to cruel antagonists is an unfortunate part of life, some of these kids are so harassed they take extreme measures, sometimes as extreme as bringing a gun to school or taking their own life. While I’m not condoning these actions, they are the actions of people who have been pushed to their limits. There’s no reason it should ever go that far.

Conclusion? Don’t pick and choose who you’re nice to. Be nice to everybody, whether it’s the prom queen or the biggest dork in the school. Don’t watch silently or complacently as you see others bullied. For some reason, everyone remembers who was nice to them in high school and who was a douche bag. When nerds make it to the top for their eventual reign on mankind, you want them to look down favorably upon you.