Sometimes I think we all want to be it, whether privately or publicly. Some of us carry a scar from not being it when we were younger. Some of us got a taste of it at some point and want to drink deeply of it.

But what is "cool?"

The first time I remember being aware of it was in elementary school. The kids who were cool seemed to be free of worry and care. No anxieties, no cares, they were above it all. The topic came up once when the teacher had stepped out of class and I said something that brought the class to a sudden silence.

"I'm not cool and I don't want to be."

At an early age I figured out something that I've never changed my mind about: being cool may bring you respect or admiration. It may bring you attention or make you feel good about yourself. But it comes with a high price.

The cool kids are those that keep an ironic distance from the world around them. The cool kids are the ones who like what everyone likes and do the things that everyone does.

I had things in my life that I loved that were not on the list of things that the cool kids dug: dinosaurs, computers, astronomy, fantasy and sci-fi literature. And I saw that if I was going to be one of the cool kids I was going to need to like things, but not love them.

To hell with that.

The things I love I want to drink of and never come up for air. The things I'm passionate about make my blood rush and put a boundless smile on my face. I don't live my life above it all--I live it right in the thick of things. Why would I want to give that up?

I've encountered folx at flow festivals at at my workshops who occasionally seem to regard me as one of the cool kids. And if that's the case then something has gone terribly wrong. Either I've lost my passion and intensity or the word no longer means what it originally did.

Either way...my answer now is still what it was when I was a small child: I don't want to be cool and I hope I never will be. And for everyone out there who is passionate, driven, and excited about the world around you, I hope you never will be, too.

Here's to being uncool!