She sees them walking in a straight line, that’s not really her style.
And they all got the same heartbeat, but hers is falling behind.
Nothing in this world could ever bring them down.
Yeah, they’re invincible, and she’s just in the background.
And she says,
“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.”
He sees them talking with a big smile, but they haven’t got a clue.
Yeah, they’re living the good life, can’t see what he is going through.
They’re driving fast cars, but they don’t know where they’re going.
In the fast lane, living life without knowing.
And he says,
“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.
I wish that I could be like the cool kids,
‘Cause all the cool kids, they seem to get it.
I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids.”
The other day I was at the market and heard this song so I Shazamed it to figure out what it was. Evidently, Shazam even works in the grocery! The lyrics struck me because growing up, I was not one of the cool kids, but always imagined how amazing their lives must be. When you grow up without a lot, it’s easy to get the impression that everyone else is wealthy. After all, it was the 80s… the decade of material consumerism, and of course that translated to society — in our clothes, movies, music.
So in my little sphere of life in upstate NY, going to a conservative church and private christian school, there were those who were the influential – the kids who got all the cool brand-name clothes, who went to the Crossgates Mall (that far away magical sounding place that only wealthy people could afford to go to) who owned campers and nice cars that had shiny paint and all their fenders and bumpers, who were good at sports and could sing in front of the whole school. But growing up, most of those kids seemed unreachable. They hung with their own, and looked down on those who weren’t part of their social status. Sounds like an 80s movie, I know. The nerds, the cast offs, the geeks, the dorks — they all had their own place on the bottom rung of the ladder and it was generally safer to stay there. Name calling, bullying, shaming was pretty much the norm in those years and it left lots of scars along the way.
You’d think after a few years, that kind of stuff would be forgotten, but words can take root in your spirit and become lies that you believe about yourself… even 20-30 years later. I wrote a little bit about this a couple years ago — https://www.wonderbox.us/wp/?p=2176.
When you go through your formative years feeling pretty crappy about yourself and your life, it can be hard sometimes to rise above and show kindness. I connected with an old high school friend on Facebook a little while back. Hadn’t heard from her in many years, and during our conversation she said, “I thought about all the people who were so nice to me back in school and you were in the top three that popped into my mind.” That comment made my day. We all stuck together, just trying to make it through those years. It’s funny now, looking back 30 years later, that the people I thought were so wealthy, were really just normal middle class folks. And some of those people who were so mean / nasty / snobby have encountered Jesus along the way. Seriously… there were some downright jerks who God has completely changed! That’s encouraging to see. They are not who they were then — and that is testimony of God’s power to change hearts!
The truth is though, that the cool kids… they didn’t have it all together. They got in trouble with rebellion, sex, drugs, and drinking. They had to work hard at keeping up an image. So I wasn’t a cool kid. And that’s ok. Because those struggles have taught me to be a kind person, to be a servant to all regardless of social status, to bless others and speak life to those I encounter to the best of my ability. Many of the lies that were implanted by the enemy from unkind words of insecure bullies have been rooted out and replaced with the truth of who Jesus created me to be, and that has changed how I feel about and view myself, and has given me confidence in who I am and what I am called to do. Throughout all those dark moments when life hurt so much, Jesus was ever near and the One to whom I would run. He has never left me nor forsaken me, as He promised. He is where my hope originates … and the confidence I have in the truth of my experiences with Christ reinforces that hope!
