"Everybody be cool. You... be cool."
Being cool in today's culture is pretty important. We toss the word around like a beach ball, but it's got the weight of a lead prison-ball attached to it.
So what is today's generation's definition of "cool"? Is cool another word for popular? Is cool the voice of the majority? Some would argue fiercely that "true" coolness is the exact opposite. True coolness is the voice of the individual, the identity of the One amongst the Many.
"Cool" is one of those words we steep with emotion and feeling, but it is a word distinctly defined by our individual world view. I say "world view" because what we consider "cool" extends into every single realm of contemporary existence (thanks, MTV).
Someone throws a McWrapper outside the car window. Their friend turns to them: "Dude, littering is so uncool."
A couple is hiking through the woods when a giant boulder, unmoved for centuries, suddenly lurches and crashes a hundred feet down into the white-water rapids. "Holy shit," the man says. "That was pretty fuckin' cool."
A rock band jams out a sweet tune in your favorite club, and, through closed eyes, you think of something that once made you happy. Yeah, that's a sweet, cool tune.
The leather-skinned harpy behind the counter of the Dairy Mart won't sell you beer and smokes 'cause your license has expired. When your mom tries to buy it for you, the hard-ass still refuses. That's uncool.
Bush sends American troops to liberate Iraq, but that's uncool. Meanwhile, a fractured and broken society flounders for existence in the power vacuum left by a cruel and tyrannical despot.
Star Wars is cool to me. To 89% of women (I pulled that figure out of my ass), it's not. I like Batman for a lot of different reasons. The least of them is superheroics. But chicks don't dig him. So I edit my conversations.
I find E. E. Smith's "Lensman" saga to be the greatest story ever told, period. He had vision, and he had vision...
But Jack Kerouac wants to kick his ass, because On the Road was single-handedly responsible for reformatting my mental/spiritual hard-drive.
Do I cut and paste myself when I'm talking to the ladies? Do I search for the lines that will a) make me look cool, and b) flatter them at the same time? Or do I stick to my guns and come across like a crotchety old man, or worse, a complete lunatic?
Notice the things around you that you consider "cool", and then think about why they're cool. You'll soon find that what you consider "cool" is a direct reflection of you who are as a person, and where you are in life's journey.
This post was totally disjointed. I hope someone gets something out of this. If nothing else, then dig this quote from my best friend, Adam White:
Boredom is the product of an unimaginative mind.
So what is today's generation's definition of "cool"? Is cool another word for popular? Is cool the voice of the majority? Some would argue fiercely that "true" coolness is the exact opposite. True coolness is the voice of the individual, the identity of the One amongst the Many.
"Cool" is one of those words we steep with emotion and feeling, but it is a word distinctly defined by our individual world view. I say "world view" because what we consider "cool" extends into every single realm of contemporary existence (thanks, MTV).
Someone throws a McWrapper outside the car window. Their friend turns to them: "Dude, littering is so uncool."
A couple is hiking through the woods when a giant boulder, unmoved for centuries, suddenly lurches and crashes a hundred feet down into the white-water rapids. "Holy shit," the man says. "That was pretty fuckin' cool."
A rock band jams out a sweet tune in your favorite club, and, through closed eyes, you think of something that once made you happy. Yeah, that's a sweet, cool tune.
The leather-skinned harpy behind the counter of the Dairy Mart won't sell you beer and smokes 'cause your license has expired. When your mom tries to buy it for you, the hard-ass still refuses. That's uncool.
Bush sends American troops to liberate Iraq, but that's uncool. Meanwhile, a fractured and broken society flounders for existence in the power vacuum left by a cruel and tyrannical despot.
Star Wars is cool to me. To 89% of women (I pulled that figure out of my ass), it's not. I like Batman for a lot of different reasons. The least of them is superheroics. But chicks don't dig him. So I edit my conversations.
I find E. E. Smith's "Lensman" saga to be the greatest story ever told, period. He had vision, and he had vision...
But Jack Kerouac wants to kick his ass, because On the Road was single-handedly responsible for reformatting my mental/spiritual hard-drive.
Do I cut and paste myself when I'm talking to the ladies? Do I search for the lines that will a) make me look cool, and b) flatter them at the same time? Or do I stick to my guns and come across like a crotchety old man, or worse, a complete lunatic?
Notice the things around you that you consider "cool", and then think about why they're cool. You'll soon find that what you consider "cool" is a direct reflection of you who are as a person, and where you are in life's journey.
This post was totally disjointed. I hope someone gets something out of this. If nothing else, then dig this quote from my best friend, Adam White:
Boredom is the product of an unimaginative mind.
posted by Billy at 12:53 AM
1 Comments:
Seems like we care a lot about what other people think about us. I guess because if we don't get affirmation from them, where else can we get it?
I don't have anything against being trendy. Well, actually, I guess I do. But what I mean to say is that trendiness is not so bad unless I can't be my own person without it.
peace, brock76
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