“I wish that I could be like the cool kids
‘Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
Like the cool kids” – Cool Kids by Echosmith
Sometimes it seems like high school never ends.
No matter how old you get, the laws of the lunchroom are still in effect.
It seems like there is always going to be the cool kid table.
The cool kids…
They make the rules and get invited to the best parties.
They never show up with food on their shirt, or trip when everyone is watching.
We mere mortals hunger for their approval and hang onto their every word.
We laugh at jokes that aren’t funny and try to emulate their every move.
We compromise chunks of our true self in hope that they will notice us.
They seem invincible while we feel invisible.
It never ends.
In every workplace or social environment it’s pretty easy to spot the cool kids.
The pretty ones, the popular ones, the ones who seem to have their act together.
They fit in, while the rest of us try to find our place.
They take center stage, while the rest of us look on from the background.
They live a charmed life, everything seems to go their way, right?
There are always going to be cool kids.
They got the memo that we didn’t get.
And so they walk alike, talk alike, dress alike.
It’s all very ALIKE.
The secret seems to be conformity.
Be ALIKE.
Choose cosmetic over character.
Walk the straight line.
Play the game.
If you MUST stand out, be sure that it is because you are superior in your ALIKE-ness.
But, what if the cool kids don’t have it as together as we thought?
What if they were a little more like us than we thought?
What if ALIKE is slowly snuffing their soul?
What if the plastic posturing leaves them with anatomically incorrect expectations and dreams?
What if they have the same hurts, doubts and insecurities that we do?
What if their masks are just prettier?
Maybe, just maybe, being a true cool kid isn’t about ALIKE, but LIKE.
Learning to LIKE yourself, and learning to LIKE the things that make you UNLIKE anyone else who has ever lived.
Maybe, the cool kid table is different than we thought.
Maybe, there is a spot for ALL of us at the cool kid’s table.
We just need to be ourselves,
and LIKE it!
What if the coolest thing we can do is realize that there is no us and them.
There is just a big multifaceted US, designed to be deliriously beautiful in our UNLIKE-ness.
That is cool!!
We take our seat at the cool kid table by learning to LIKE ourselves. (Some days that is harder than others!)
We also need to spread the LIKE to the people who are UNLIKE us.
DON’T WORRY ABOUT ALIKE,
LIVE LIKED!
carbonated joy 