JOE COOL LOOSES HIS MOJO AFTER DISAPPOINTMENTS

Joe Cool never says good-bye because he knows he’s not going anywhere.

You may not see him in person, but he takes up head space; at least that’s his vision.

He knows you want him, whether you know it or not. That’s the magic of Joe Cool. He knows.

How long before he ages out?

It takes a visionary to see and understand what others need. There’s another name for people who see and understand what others need, and ignore it.

If you can make a difference, or think you can make a difference, and there is a need for the sort of difference you could make, shouldn’t you try?

Competent teaches know the drill if they’ve been at it long enough. They’ve seen characters roll down the runway year after year. Some lift off, some crash.

I went to grade school in the Sixties. After kindergarten at Roosevelt Elementary School with Mrs. Spooner, I went to the local Bangor Grade School the next six years.

Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic were king. New math, with a skinny New Math book, replaced the huge old math book like someone changed the rules, the numbers, and equations.

It was a very confusing time for Joe Cool, but even worse when we all graduated to Junior High. In those days kids were shuttled into classes that matched their abilities.

Some kids went to remedial classes, others went to advanced. Joe was not cool with his placement.

Learning The Cool Of Being Cool

Joe was used to being at the top of his class. Big for his age, but not smart enough, he bullied his way through the day.

He moved to higher class levels when his parents complained that their baby was falling behind. He may have been an idiot at home, but mom and dad had status in the community and wanted more for him in public.

After Joe showed up in the higher level classes teachers stopped handing out graded tests and papers the other kids usually compared.

He could hide in the classroom, but not football practice. In those days a weight limit determined who could play in the backfield. If you weighed too much, you couldn’t be the star quarterback, and Joe was all about being a star.

His parents complained about the unfair treatment their superstar was getting, but safety was the important thing. No one wanted a fat kid trucking little guys, so Joe trained with the linemen.

He lasted a week, then quit the team. The reason? He was too good for school sports and joined a club team for better competition. The real reason?

Playing on the line was rough and tumble on every play. No one ever got a play off, handed the ball off and stood around, or threw it downfield and stood and watched who caught it.

Lineman get bruised and scratched and bleed. Even as little guys the pride shined through. They might lose the game, but they pounded the guy across from them.

Joe did’t like the contact, the hits, the blocking and tackling. He didn’t like the bruises, didn’t like getting knocked down and having to get up and be knocked down again.

And he got knocked down often, sometimes three times on one play. The kids he had bullied over the years took their shots at him on the line and he couldn’t take it.

He showed his parents the bruises and they needed to protect their delicate peach from harm, instead of pumping him up for giving and taking the sort of things football delivers.

How Cool Guys Leave The Russian Stage

One Russian leader took aim at another during a national transition. Not cool.

Gorbachev struggled to understand Yeltsin’s growing popularity, commenting: “he drinks like a fish… he’s inarticulate, he comes up with the devil knows what, he’s like a worn-out record.“

Which took a turn for the worse:

The August 1991 coup was carried out by the hard-line elements within Gorbachev’s own administration, as well as the heads of the Soviet army and the KGB, or secret police. Detained at his vacation villa in the Crimea, he was placed under house arrest and pressured to give his resignation, which he refused to do.

The rest of the story:

In August 1991, the president of the Soviet Union, his attractive 59-year-old wife, their only daughter and her husband, as well as two grandchildren were vacationing in the Crimea when Gorbachev’s opponents in the party struck. The entire family was arrested and for 72 hours held hostage. Raisa, in particular, feared for their lives and thought that an attempt would be made to poison her husband. She apparently suffered a stroke or a nervous breakdown as a result of the ordeal. While the coup itself failed, the Communist Party which Gorbachev headed was outlawed, and in December he resigned as the president of a Soviet Union which no longer existed.

Joe Cool And Donal Trump

Joe Cool is every small town superstar who stuck around town long enough to see his star fade.

They either turn bitter, or invite the next one up to take their place.

The bitter version can’t believe they aren’t who they used to be, that it’s unfair, not right.

They look at the facts, the time frame, and refuse to believe they aged-out. Then comes the accusations, the lies, the threats.

The normal way is to avoid lying and cheating and pointing fingers at theft and revenge.

A grown-ass adult knows now to keep score, knows about winning and losing, and does their best to represent the best side they’ve got to whatever audience is looking on.

Woe on the lifelong fans who cheer for a whining quitter who’d rather wallow with them than show how to elevate their feelings and welcome a new day.

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.

Time to exit stage left?