The Cool and the Uncool

Someone once asked me the definition of cool. I said my definition of cool is some who is not affected.
What I mean by that is in America, we often follow the crowd and pay little attention to our own path. Trends lead the nation and many people follow them because they think they are cool.
When I lived in Washington DC in the 1980s Reggae was all the rage. I knew people who spent every night at the Saba Club on Connecticut Avenue. Many of these people bought all of the albums and even went so far as to grow dreadlocks. Most of these people failed the cool test and passed the affected test.
What are these tests you might ask? I will start with the affected test. Upon questioning these people about Reggae and It's roots most of them knew nothing about it. The only person who actually knew Reggae's roots and spiritual meaning was M.L. Johnson, she was from Omaha, Nebraska but she had been a Peace Corps volunteer in Jamaica and had developed a fondness for the music and culture of the island. M.L. failed the affected test but she passed the cool test . She marched to her own drummer and did not care who knew it. The rest passed the affected test.
You pass the affected test if you a. follow the crowd and b. have no idea of what direction that you are going in . The cool lead the way. Do you think Charlie Parker cared what other people thought about his sound. Someone asked him once why did he play anchors aweigh right in the middle of one of his pieces. He said with a straight face "you did'nt see the sailor come into the room. Do you think Andy Warhol cared that some of the critics did not like his conception of Marilyn Monroe. No. He said art is anything you can get away with. The cool set the trends and the uncool follow.
I come in contact we both types during the course of a day and realized that the world needs both and one can help the other learn and love this great world that we live in. So be uncool or cool but be something.