The Definition of Cool

Isn't it funny how the meaning of "being cool" changes as you get older?

For instance, in elementary school, I like to think that nobody is really "cool" or "uncool." At least in the early years. Everyone is just a kid, and hopefully some varying degree of "cute."

By the time you reach junior high and high school, you become very conscious of who is cool and who is not. It's a huge popularity competition, in some respects. I don't think I was ever very cool in those years. I was a good student, which apparently was not that cool, and I was somewhat shy. I may have been a little awkward. By my final year of high school, I think I no longer cared much about being cool or not. Which is funny, because this was probably my coolest year of all. (By this time I had become considerably less awkward, I had a boyfriend, and I was pretty sociable.)

In college, the definition changes A LOT. Being smart no longer makes you an outcast. Intellectual curiosity and high academic achievement are ideals to strive toward, not to mock. (Well, hopefully. I generally felt this way at Cal Poly, most of the time.) Eating lunch alone is socially acceptable. Dressing cute for your 8 am class in unnecessary and uncommon, as most students will stroll in wearing jeans or sweats. And whether you like to party it up or play Dungeons & Dragons on the weekends, you will probably be able to find plenty of others who like to do the same, thereby assuring you that your activity of choice is cool to someone.

And then when you graduate, it changes even further. Suddenly it's "cool" to be mature and successful, I think. It's cool to have a job and an apartment and stability. Maybe it's even cool to get 8 hours of sleep at night. And suddenly it's NOT cool to drink too much alcohol, or to goof off all the time, or to make too many inappropriate jokes. Right?

Sometimes I wonder what the popular kids from the high school era are doing. Are they successful, or are they just bumming around?? Are they still cool? One perk of NOT being super cool in high school is there is no rude awakening once it's all over. You know, no reality check, no thinking "oh shoot, I've gotten by this far with my good looks and popularity and endless stream of followers to reassure me that I'm awesome... now what?!" (At least in my imagination, this is what some of them are thinking.) I just think it's interesting, and sort of ironic, how this whole coolness factor evolves as you become an adult.

In conclusion: I think the geeks probably do grow up to rule the world. Along with the business majors, of course. Maybe this means that in adult land, cool and uncool will finally reach a happy medium.