Cool Kids

So this is a song that's highly popular now and I actually enjoy it a lot. It's ironic that today of all days is when it gets stuck in my head and I listen to it about 50 times.



I was always kind of that socially awkward kid growing up. I never really fit in, did my own thing, acted like I didn't care, but honestly I did. There was a lot that went on that made me act out to gain attention, and when that didn't work anywhere I think that's when I really became an introvert, apathetic, and pessimistic.



This really started to happen around 6th and 7th grade, and just increased through middle and high school. But I remember 6th grade I was talking to a kid in my class who was popular, cool, good at everything he did, and I asked him, after stuttering for about 15 minutes, "How do I become cool like you?" We were pretty good friends, actually were in some of the same grades in elementary school. But the next year he went to a different middle school then I did, and come high school we were two completely different people. But we still talked and hung out at lunch and whatever like some kids might do.



During that those years I watched has he spiraled down into tobacco use at the age of 15, dipping in class constantly, constantly drinking, and eventually I saw him get into selling heroin, and eventually using. During our senior year I watched this guy that I knew since I was about 7 lose weight from his addiction, skipping school, forgetting the things that he once loved and cherished.



Today I saw online that he got picked up for breaking and entering, I saw his mug shot and didn't recognize him at all.



Two thoughts came racing through my mind: What if I followed him, what if our friendship didn't really end when we went to different middle schools?



I noticed with that first question was about me, and my future. Would I be strung out on drugs, breaking into houses to try and pay for my next high along with him?



Then the second question came up: What if I could have done something to prevent this fall of this incredibly smart and talented kid? What if I acted like the Christian I claimed to be and played on Sundays? What if instead of following my own, shorter, less drastic fall I was light and salt in this persons life?



These are tough questions to answer. Where would I be if I stayed friends with him? What could I have done to prevent this?



I hope a good number of people in high school are reading this, because I went through exactly what you're going through. I wanted to be like the cool kids, I wanted to fit in. Yet I saw that if I did, I could be in a horrible place. While I was in high school I looked at my fellow class mates and remember how much I was bullied and made fun of for just being me. That along with a plethora of other problems led me to dark places. And I wanted to be like those kids? What was wrong with me?



You want to be like them? What's wrong with you? You may sit there and say "Oh they aren't that bad" but in all societies the stronger prey on the weak, the different, and those who are strong and go against them. I'm happy for where I am today, because I go against cultural norms. I go with God. He is my path. I no longer want to be like others because I find meaning in being me. I am who I am by the grace of God, and I accept that.



So I pose this question to you: Who are you? A new creation in Christ? Or a mold that society tells you to be?



If you don't know you better figure it out before you end up with all the other molds that are unhappy in their lives, sprinting towards alcohol and drug abuse, just waiting to turn into the next divorce statistic working a dead end job.



Don't wish to be like the cool kids. Pray to be like Christ.