Maybe "cool" didn't die with Steve McQueen after all | Opinion

It's been 43 years since actor Steve McQueen died on Nov. 7, 1980 and I have to wonder in this age of selfies, Tik-Tok and all things Taylor Swift if something else died with him. Cool.

McQueen was cool. Icy cool. With a brief stare and a slight nod of the head McQueen could tell you he either loves you or would rather see you buried in a few feet of Indian River Lagoon muck. He was so cool, his moniker was “The King of Cool.”

Go to YouTube and watch the final scene in “Bullitt,” when a government bureaucrat wants McQueen’s character to play some politics in arresting a Mob figure.

McQueen pierces the bureaucrat with frosty blue eyes and calmly replies “Bull(expletive)!” as he walks away. As a youngster I snuck into that movie and recall repeating that phrase within earshot of my mom. Without going into detail, I’ll just say the results were very uncool for the back of my head.

But back to McQueen’s cool.

Hard to tell if “cool” is still desirable. Some people tend to blurt out, or post, the first thing that comes to their mind and only begrudgingly apologize if there is too much heat “I’m sorry if my comments offended anyone.” Uggh.

Forced apologies aren’t “cool.” Cool, is not doing it in the first place or owning it if you do.

Cool is telling the chef at a restaurant the meal was great. Uncool is going on social media and writing “Don’t go to this restaurant because the waitress took too long to refill on my Coke.”

Cool is buying a law enforcement (or any first responder) officer a cup of coffee. Uncool is telling that officer you won’t serve him/her because the uniform makes you uncomfortable.

So, exactly what is “cool.”

“Cool” is something noticeable but not easily defined.  It’s subtle gestures, the way you cock your head, or shoot someone a look that says all there is to say. It’s steady, consistent calm in a hurricane of emotions.

It’s the old axiom of “doing the right thing, when no one is watching,” because, well, it’s the right thing to do, and not expecting any reward.

I think Brevard has numerous public officials who are great public servants. But a couple of local lawmakers I consider cool — and this is a judgement that comes from what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard from others — are Rockledge City Commissioner Michael Cadore and Melbourne City Councilman Tim Thomas. It’s nothing they say or do politically but rather the way they handle themselves.

Cadore seems to be everywhere, but he doesn’t draw attention to himself, rather he’s always pointing out his family and others. I watched him escort his mother to the stage at a United Way Brevard event last year, and he gracefully walked next to her so that all eyes were on her, not him.

As for Thomas, a former ROTC instructor at Viera High School, a parent once told me a few years ago that Thomas earned the family’s gratitude when he told them he didn’t’ think their son was really cut out for the military.

“He’s a good man, a good person. And he’ll be a good leader,” the student’s father recalled Thomas telling the parents, “but don’t think the military is the best place for him now.”

For an ROTC instructor to say that shows some genuine respect for his students, parents and his position.

Lawyer Kim Rezanka always strikes me as cool also. If there’s a zoning board or city or town council Rezanka has not been before in Brevard County it means it doesn’t exist.  Someone once said it perfectly about Rezanka. “She has a way of slapping you in the face with her eyes if she’s mad at you.”

My favorite cool is a woman at one of the Publix stores on Brevard who I’ve noticed always makes it a point to bring in someone’s shopping cart as she enters the store. It’s almost robotic. When people say “thank you” the woman usually smiles faintly, says “of course” or “yeah, yeah, yeah” in a very noticeable Long Island accent goes about her business inside. She has me doing the same thing now.

Will “cool,” as a general practice ever return as a desirable trait? Hard to tell.

Just a few days ago I was driving behind a guy on U.S. 1 in Melbourne and he flicked his cigarette butt out the window. He was in one of those big-tired trucks that looked like it belonged on the battlefield in the Middle East, not a public road.

I pulled up next to him at the next light and attempted my best disgusted stare and head shake. He looked down at me and mouthed “Whatttttttttt?” Pretty positive I ended my disgusted gaze before he sped off.

I couldn’t pull off cool. And he certainly wasn’t cool for disposing of his butt the way he did.

I like to think McQueen, maybe on the Triumph motorcycle he rode in “The Great Escape,” could have done it differently. With a subtle glance, McQueen would have had the guy going back to pick up his trash and then had him apologizing for his lack of cool.

Oh well. The current environment, maybe, is a little too warm for a major outbreak of “cool.”

Wayne T. Price is director of communications at the Space Coast Health Foundation and a former staffer at FLORIDA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Maybe "cool" didn't die with Steve McQueen after all