I know I know… It's not a fair question because I look so stinking preppy in the picture on the left. Preppie might not be cool to you. But you have to remember that I was in law school when that picture was taken. And I do look rather Dead Poet society, don't I?
My body has changed so much since the accident. One of the annoying things is that since I no longer have abdominal muscles, my stomach pooches out into an annoying thing that they call "Quad Belly." I had a very flat stomach before the accident, but three weeks later I looked down and I asked my therapist, "what the freak is this?" She said "that's just quad belly. It's your internal organs just not being held in buy your abs anymore." As if it were no big deal. I wanted to cry. Since I have this belly, I can't wear the medium or large T-shirts that I wore before. Now I have to wear double X or triple X even though I've only gained 3 pounds. This limits the stores I can shop at, so Old Navy is my go to. My hairline has also receded the point that I just wanted to shave it off. Since I don't have abdominal muscles, I can't quite talk as loud or as full as I did before. Then there are the obvious ones… I can't walk so my legs are thin from atrophied muscles. I can't use my hands so they look funny in the gloves I have to wear so I can still grip things.
You'd think with all these changes that my self-esteem might have taken some hits. That's really not the case. Sure, I've definitely been humbled, but that's more through my life situations then through my changed body. Almost losing my wife and family was much more humbling then not being able to walk. God has given me so much grace … at the end of the day, I still just feel like me. I have learned a lot about pain, overcoming, frustration, loyalty, grace, forgiveness, patience, determination, and organization since my accident.
This brings us to some questions on cool. Who is cooler, an organized person or an unorganized person? Before my accident (and before my increased need to make sure things around me were organized because I can't just wing things anymore) I thought being unorganized was cooler. I thought being spontaneous and being unorganized went hand-in-hand, and I love my spontaneity. But when I make a plan, things unfold accordingly, and I have everything in place so that all my bases are covered, organization feels way cooler than disorganization.
Think about how American capitalism appeals to consumers. Cool is king. Providing crushing pressure from a multibillion-dollar marketing machine for us to try to be a standout, be a star, be an individual is the ultimate marketing strategy. You don't need to listen to the album that artist made, customize your own playlist. Get the phone that you can customize all the buttons, screen, and trim on. New phone! New phone! New phone! New tablet...bam! New laptop...bam!
It's the same with fashion. Be a one of a kind.. Wear these $190 jeans (that 25 million other people have). Do you like whiskey? Drink this kind of whiskey. It is for people who know who they are… Top people… Original people… Cool people.
The obvious irony is that when millions of people are all being original in the same way… No one is original.
An unusual twist to this is the hipster (scenester) ironic (anti)cool. It goes something like this, "we are going to show you (convention) that you don't control us. We are going to pick clothes that don't look good (guys in painted on skinny jeans) and facial hair that makes us look like sex offenders and we are going to prove to you that we're not afraid to go out in public like that. But all that this does is provide a counterculture that is just as exclusionary as culture is.
