cOOl kids

R.a.n.t. of week 12/28/14

I remember back in high school of how much I longed to fit in and be one of the cool kids. No, I never did become a cool kid. I never had the latest trends in clothes, didn't own a pair of sunglasses, wasn't even 'hip' or in touch with the awesome 'hits' on the radio. But that didn't stop me from wanting to be one of the cool kids. One of the ones who it seemed everyone looked up to. One of the ones everyone was talking about in a positive light and were perhaps an inspiration to others. Or the one others wanted to follow. But no; that was never me. I never walked the straight line they did, my heart fell behind their heartbeat. The cool kids were always invincible, and I was always in the background. They were living the good life and couldn't see what I was going through. You might say they were driving the fast cars in the fast lane.

But I'm older now and things change when you are older. Don't they? When a person gets older, they never care too much about fitting in or being one of the "cool kids" any more. And yet, life seems to find a parallel for us. No matter how old we get, there is always something we aspire more for. It's ingrained in our system. Without the need to improve or hope for something better, we fail to try and improve ourselves. So we need to ignore those 'cool kids' and concentrate on improving ourselves. Not worrying about others. Reminds me of a poem from Emily Dickinson

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us -- don't tell!
They'd banish -- you know!

How dreary to be somebody!
How public like a frog
To tell one's name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

But I mislead you before. There are some grown-ups who still long to be the cool kids. They form their little 'cliques' and include or exclude people into their social functions based on whether others are 'cool' or not. It's annoying because it causes divisions and feelings of resentment. Not from me, mind you. I'm nobody and happy to be that way. It would be dreary to be 'somebody' as Emily would tell me. Perhaps one day, the 'cool kids' will come to realize they are not as cool as they thought they were. Will they strive to better themselves? We shall see. Ribbet!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
For the record: Resident music lover and part time blog contributor, Charles Winthrop, has requested I update my blog entry to point out a portion of the r.a.n.t. above contains remarks plagerised from the song "Cool Kids" performed by Echosmith.(As if you couldn't tell from the blog photo or title).

Charles Winthrop is a Washington
state writer & D.J. His interests
include music (both modern and
classical) and is a fine art connoisseur.
His articles have appeared in various
magazines including, 'Art Beautiful',
'Music of the Renaissance', and 'The Walla Walla Whistler'.