Stories Behind the Songs: Comfortable

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Every once-in-a-while you’ll meet someone who really doesn’t care what people think.  Not in an arrogant or middle-finger-up at the world sort of way, but in a good way.  The problem is, people who truly have this attitude don’t necessarily fit the classic American definition of the “cool kid.”  They aren’t up on the latest trends, hang in the most popular circles of friends, or have the best clothes, and so the “cool kids” don’t see what this person has to offer.  I have to admit I haven’t known too many of these kinds of people, and when I have encountered them, I’m guilty of writing them off as well.  But I’ve had the rare pleasure of getting to know a couple of folks that I’d say fall into this category, and they are always the greatest people you ever want to meet.  They aren’t the most popular with the girls, smartest in the class, captain of the football team kinda people, and you’d never see a role created for thhis type of kid in High School Musical. But they have a lot more to offer me than I have to offer them.

That’s sort of the back drop of this song.  It’s a story about a fictional dude who fits this mold.  In fact, he’s oblivious to the fact that he’s not cool… he’s so comfortable and content with who he is that he’s completely convinced he is cool, even though everyone around him thinks he’s just weird.  Sometimes the ones we tag as “losers” end up being the most interesting people.  As we get to know this guy we begin not only to discover things about him, but about ourselves as well.  In the same way he doesn’t care what people think, we begin to discover how much we do care.  We care way too much.  In fact, most of the things we put in our life to make us more socially acceptable are really just shallow attempts to convince people of our worth… and boy do we care about those stupid things.  How insecure are most of us?  For real.  If we took a lesson from the few people in the world who couldn’t care less about status or fashion or trendiness we’d be much better for it.

I think we assume that the uncool kids in life all want to be like the cool kids.  That’s the ironic twist in this song.  As we watch this guy and how he chooses not to live his life for other people, we realize that we want to be just like him. Because when you think about it, we’re really not comfortable with who we are.  We make so many daily attempts to convince people we’re way cooler than we are.  We’re afraid to show our true colors for fear of looking like a total nerd.  But could you imagine how free you’d feel if you didn’t put the pressure on yourself to impress everybody today?  If you realized your personal self worth wasn’t based on the compliments and reactions you get from other people who see how well you perform or how good you look today?

Don’t you want some of that?  There’s a lesson here for all of us.

My oh my, don’t you wanna be just like him?
Walk, talk just like him?
Looking so comfortable in his skin
Why oh why couldn’t we all be just like that?
I wish we all got that
Looking so comfortable in our skin

*On a side note, FE’s new T shirt reads “Future Hall of Fame,” a quote from this song.  It’s been a very popular item.  You should get one or no one will think you’re cool.

C’mon, that’s funny.