Furthermore…

Shabby guy with placard

    REPENT!

 GIVE ALMS

On my frequent visits to a small bookseller’s shop near the University of Chicago, the proprietor would inevitably ask me, as I entered, “What’s great.” I never had a response of any note.

 Years later, I am beset with the question, “What’s ‘Cool’?” It seems to be something of a ‘God term’ within the youth culture, signifying a kind of inchoate, unchallengable endorsement of the referent, intuitively apparent to all peers. It seems to be the ultimate value, trumping importance, utility, and tradition.

 Something is Cool?  Bring it on, they respond.  No vetting for morality, prudence, value or harmlessness.  The devil, of course, is about convincing anyone who will listen that  Hell is Cool.   Sin?  Cool!