Weird is The New Cool


Sometime ago last month, I decided that I was going to cut my hair a certain way. I got a high-top fade. The next Monday I came to school and was laughed at, ridiculed, and called weird for the way I looked. Now, it did not affect me, but I was curious as to why someone would call a person weird, just because they do something different from what people are used to. I am often asked “What possessed you to wear your hair like that” or “What is wrong with you”. I always reply with the same answer: “To be different I guess”. They reply with a “That’s cool” or “I hear that” non-caringly, only making a joke, not actually wanting a response.

Weird, outcast, nerd, lame and geek are things that people who “dare to be different” are called. People like Andy Warhol, who revolutionized the world of art by creating a whole new genre. People like John Lennon, from the Beatles who believed that people should just “Give Peace a Chance”. People like Chuck D, from Public Enemy, who as though he should use his music to express a message to people that the people would not usually obtain by listening to any kind of “Rap” or “Hip Hop”. These people may not have been weird, outcasts or lame, however they were looked upon differently in society, and shall forever be remembered as those who were out of the “ordinary”.
I find myself to be a relatively intelligent and responsible guy. I strive to be different and I express in the way I talk, the way I wear my clothes, the way I think, and of course the way I wear my hair. I believe that if I do, act, and say the same things as everyone else, I will just blend in with the rest of African-American, Urban Youth, but if I am different I can be myself without shame. I would rather be remembered as “The boy with the high-top fade” rather than to not be remembered at all.