Discovering Cool
Yes, that was me. The very nadir of my youth. This was perhaps my boldest attempt at trying to be cool. I was 17.
The trouble is, this kind of haircut is supposed to shock, and cool is about rebellion. But I did this the night before going on a youth group canoe trip - not exactly the destination for a real rebel. There was no risk involved.
Plus, I got all sunburnt in a grid pattern.
And no, I didn't stop trying to be cool at that point. It took more years and more maturing and, most important, a greater understanding of who I was in God's eyes before I really stopped caring if people thought I was with it.
The earliest I was aware of cool, I believe, was second grade, when I noticed that the sixth graders at my school began to think they were cool. At the time, I realized, I am immature and might as well enjoy it while I’ve got it. When did you first become aware of cool? How have you tried, succeeded, or failed at being cool?
If your story is better told through pictures (like mine), join the uncool group at Flickr, and show off your goods. But come back and drop a line here, too!
posted by locutus est @ Monday, January 02, 2006
Author and Speaker
1 Comments:
My daughter and son go to a Waldorf school, which is quite counter-cultural in many respects, but the school officially requests zero television/media/screen time for kids. They are in third and first grades, they LOVE school, and they can't believe anyone doesn't. Everyone at the school wears and passes hand-me-down clothes, shoes, toys. They don't know what to say when people ask what they want Santa to bring. They are utterly clueless. They sing songs about apple trees and sunshine...
I am so jealous of them, deeply deeply jealous of their childhood, their joy, their childing imperviousness to other's judgements. I know it won't last forever, but it's real good now.
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