Relative Something

What is cool? I’m willing to bet that the majority of normal, reasonable people do not plan ahead to define what they think will be cool. But if I recall correctly, somewhere back in childhood, there is a period where there is plenty of energy given to the process of being cool. I believe there are a few principle aspects that help accomplish ‘cool’. When it is achieved, it is never the result of an action taken with the intent of being cool. Whatever it is about something that is cool, it has to have been the result of something other than an actual attempt to be cool.

One problem with judging cool is that it is entirely subjective. One person’s cool is another person’s silly or ridiculous. It can be difficult to tell when you may have overdone it. Maybe it is cool that images can be manipulated using software, but if you make a model’s waist and pelvis smaller than her head for a fashion ad, people take it as not only uncool, but downright offensive. Maybe it evolved with the thought that if a little is cool, then a lot would be even more cool. Hardly.

There is a context to be considered for cool. When the group of 7th grade suburban boys gathered on their bikes in the driveway next door one afternoon, all dressed like they had adopted a culture more often associated with LA rap musicians, it brought a chuckle. It may have worked for their age group, but from my vantage point, they were making quite a leap.

When wild musicians strut their stuff in concert and romp around town with the band, they are all about cool, but what about when they take the wild look to the bank or the doctor’s office? It can’t be easy maintaining that coolness in all contexts, can it?

Always the contrarian, I’m more inclined to go for the silly or ridiculous. Maybe I’ll get lucky, and in the right context, someone will mistake it for cool.