The Cool Kids Aren't So Cool After All...
By grumpybear
@ShortyAkbar (384)
United States
December 20, 2008 6:55pm CST
I was pretty much a loser during middle school and high school. I didn't have a lot of friends. I might have had 5 or 6 people that I considered friends, and they were pretty much as lame as me. No one really liked me, even the special ed students made fun of me. I always wanted to be popular, until I started observing the behavior of the so-called "popular" kids. One of the first things I noticed was they had no privacy. It was almost like they were celebrities. Everyone watched them, so everyone knew about everything they did. People knew who the popular kids were dating, who was having problems at home, pretty much anything personal that they would've wanted kept a secret. They all hated each other. They were all supposed to be friends, but you would be surprised at how they all talked behind each others back. Most of the fights that broke out were between the "populars". Me and my lame-o friends never had that problem.
I was in the barbershop a few months back and the star football player from my graduating class came in. He sat next to me, and I wanted to move down a seat because he was kind of a jerk and I try to avoid people from my high school because my high school experience was so bad. He started talking to me out of the blue. He asked me what I had been doing since graduation and I told him I was in college. Mr. Popularity on the other hand revealed to me that he hadn't been doing anything. He didn't go to school, he didn't even have a job. His clothes were dirty and he smelled weird. So I thought to myself, "This is who I wanted to be like?" I had spent more of life than I would like to admit trying to get people like this to like me. I was always considered lame, but it turns out the "cool" kids are the lame ones. They're petty, some of them aren't very smart. They never have anything interesting to say. One of my positive qualities is that people say they enjoy having conversations with me. Yet, I'm not cool and the guy from the barbershop is. If being cool means that I have to be like that guy, then I'll be lame for the rest of my life.
3 people like this
13 responses
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
21 Dec 08
I remember meeting a girl who was ultra popular when we were in college a few years later and I was amazed at how "uncool" she suddenly was. A lot happened in the world in those days (70's) and she was still dressing and looking and thinking the same as when she went to a small private womens's college. I was shocked at the time but now I think that is probably par for the course. They say that the biggest problem with being popular in school can be that the popular onew peak at that point in their life and never want to grow past it. I've heard of fify year olds who go to their highschool reunions wearing their cheerleader's outfits and they look very foolish.
@Chastised_Dreamz (559)
• United States
21 Dec 08
Well what defines "cool" is subjective. It's a personal opinion.
@cripfemme (7698)
• United States
21 Dec 08
I know what you mean. Some people just never seem to grow beyond high school. My best friend in school has still never been out of the area code. It seems all of us losers and freaks in high school, made something of ourselves perhaps because of what we had to go through. We wanted success and we were more passionate about achieving it than they were. We're in good company. Apparently Bill Gates used to be a nerd.
@ersmommy1 (12588)
• United States
21 Dec 08
There was a girl like that in my graduating class. The last time I heard anything about her, her father was paying her rent and bills. And she was working part time. It is sad when it seems most of the effort they put forth was for High school. There is so much life to live after that. I don't even worry about that time of life. And I have never been to a reunion either. Looking forward is a better option.
@Iconoclast1 (389)
• United States
21 Dec 08
Hey, the nerds run the world! Just look at Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Allen Greenspan to name a few. Computer software designers make 60 to 75K or more depending on what country they're in. Look at all the money films like "The Dark Knight" netted and how popular the show "Heroes" is. All based on comic books. I'd much rather talk to a scientist than a football player any day of the week. Granted there are exceptions, but by and large nerds are much more interesting. All the crap they have to go through in school makes them a lot more sensitive to the plights of others too. A lot of times the popular kids have just as many problems as nerds, also. For some of the reasons you mentioned. Also they usually become sexually active sooner than nerds and everyone knows all the problems that can come with that.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
21 Dec 08
And it only gets better as the years go by! 
I wasn't wildly popular in school...I had a couple of friends, some of the jock and preppy types hates us because we were hippies (I graduated in 1973) and I have enjoyed watching the downfall of the "chosen ones" off and on ever since graduation. The beautiful girls with the large boobs (I'm female) who got all of the attention...well, those boobs sagged early. The hottest guy in my class is fat and balding and never did anything with his life. I also found that the more popular kids were, the more they expected life to be handed to them on a silver platter, and the less they accomplished. Keep being you. It sounds like you have much more going for you than those losers you went to school with. 
I wasn't wildly popular in school...I had a couple of friends, some of the jock and preppy types hates us because we were hippies (I graduated in 1973) and I have enjoyed watching the downfall of the "chosen ones" off and on ever since graduation. The beautiful girls with the large boobs (I'm female) who got all of the attention...well, those boobs sagged early. The hottest guy in my class is fat and balding and never did anything with his life. I also found that the more popular kids were, the more they expected life to be handed to them on a silver platter, and the less they accomplished. Keep being you. It sounds like you have much more going for you than those losers you went to school with. @ShortyAkbar (384)
• United States
21 Dec 08
What you said reminds me of an episode of "South Park". They said that the "cool", "beautiful" kids don't really get anywhere because they don't try hard enough because they expect everything to be handed to them, and they don't develop personalities because of their looks. While the "uncool" kids strive for more and end up being successful.
@aprilsue00 (1991)
• United States
21 Dec 08
Isn't it funny how that works. They thought they were everything in high school. After graduation they don't know what to do with themselves because they have no one worshipping them. That's why I never let anyone bother me in high school. I was who I was and I didn't care what other people thought. I feel the same way today.
@4ftfingers (1310)
•
21 Dec 08
Thing is not everyone who is popular actually want to be that, or realises how other people look at them.
I never thought of myself as popular at school. But I started hearing things said about me that made me realise people looked at me differently. A few times girls would tell me conversations they had about me and it really surprised me to know that they were putting me up so high in their estimation. I was really shy. I could talk to people but I would feel a bit uncomfortable.
I heard that people thought I was arrogant for not talking to them. I felt bad, but they just didn't know the truth. So since then I've always tried to make the effort to talk to everyone I meet. And I find that it's usually the people that would concider themselves 'uncool' that are the most interesting people.
@alindahaw (1219)
• Philippines
21 Dec 08
I hate to burst your bubble but life doesn't always go that way. The most of the popular kids in high school end up with better careers. Anyway, the good news is that if people just work hard enough to turn their lives around for the better, they can always make a lot of difference in their lives. You just be who you are and work on being good at something.
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
21 Dec 08
It's always nice to see when your life turns out better than someone that was a jerk to you in school. I was friends with everyone in high school, I wouldn't say I was popular I would say that I didn't have just one type of friends. Great to see you had such an eye opening event happen.
@baileycows (3665)
• United States
21 Dec 08
Well good for you, but it doesnt always happen like that. I know the kids that they made fun of in high school are still the ones they make fun of now. And the star quarter back makes 100k a year married to his cheerleader wife who is a nurse and daddy gave them a 500K house for their wedding present. So I think you should just be who you want to be and forget everyelse else.
@Chastised_Dreamz (559)
• United States
21 Dec 08
I don't think that popularity=cool. There are a lot of people that are not popular that are pretty cool but people don't know if because they either keep to themselves or other people just don't know them well enough to see that side of them.
While what you said doesn't happen to everyone it does happen often. Some people think that it's cool to skip classes and things like that but later on they end up being the people that are not doing anything with their lives. If people call you a loser because you're making something of yourself and working hard at your education then they usually end up being the losers in the end.
It's a pretty important lesson that a lot of kids have to learn though: work hard now, play later. It'll seem like your life sucks or like you're a "loser" because you're not going out and partying like the other kids but it pays off in the end. That doesn't mean that you can't have fun but there are limits.
I sound so old lol.
@LaurenInLA (2270)
• United States
21 Dec 08
It's an amazing lesson that we all learn at some point in life. I went to my high school reunion this summer and most of the "cool" kids really didn't amount to much at all. I worked hard and got an MBA and had a successful career in the entertainment industry for years. By the time that my reunion rolled around, I took early retirement and spend most of my free time traveling. Suddenly, I got to be the "coolest" person at the reunion. Success is the best revenge.
