Kalos Says . . .: What is "Cool"?

What is it about the pursuit of popularity that makes it such an intricate, frustrating and hopeless journey? Is it a lack of swag? Lack of true friends? Lack of sex? It seems as if you can never have the right amount of --[insert whatever you’re lacking]-- to satisfy your social needs. Like, popularity cannot be attained solely by being you. People have to actually like you! Many seem to sacrifice who they really are to adapt to the interests of others. They fear that being too different will only backfire on them. After all, deviation from the norm does only results in ridicule (Quote Me). Ironically, to thrive within the corridors of coolness one must have that distinguishing factor that will sustain his or her membership amongst the coolness elites. So with all this said sacrificing, are you telling me that a small sense of uniqueness is still needed? Damn skippy.

Social success is valued very high amongst the youth (the rat race must have a provision on age); however, “swagger jacking” is not. It seems as if there’s an unwritten balance between uniqueness and conformity that everyone must juggle. That sucks…because juggling is a clown act. Hence why most of us make a fool of ourselves, whether our juggling was good or bad, in pursuit of popularity.

History shows that uniqueness has led the masses in its episodic transitions of coolness epochs. At one point the bright colored Cango Hats and excessively big gold accessories were cool before the transition into bright neon colored biker shorts and patterned shirts plagued the black community. The bushy mustaches and simple love songs were ubiquitous on the radio stations before the sagging pants and romp shaking hip hop came along. It proves that people like new things. However, getting them to embrace the new things depends largely on how many others are willing to embrace it. That first follower matters the most in your pursuit of popularity. The subsequent followers will find it that much easier to follow you now that others have invested in you. The question now is, “what attracts the first follower?”

Internal Stability. The philosopher Protagoras provides us with this anaology. In order for a cylinder to roll it needs an initial push. To convert that push into an on-going momentum force, it needs a stable infrastructure. If we yearn to be cool, the dissection of its complexities tells us that we don’t necessarily have to conform at all. There’s an alternative balance that we can maintain to give us the same cool; the balance between uniqueness and confidence.

One should be proud of its quintessential uniqueness so that others may use this pride as encouragement to invest in his or her cool. No one follows weak leaders. However, everyone wants to be led by a unique and solid leader. Be Bold. Be Proud. Be You…the recipe for cool.