we all want jesus to fit something. something we know and understand. something that feels similar, familiar. for me that’s a hardcore kid. that’s how i feel in my heart. it’s the best way i can categorize myself based on my knowledge. sure, i’m also a designer, a christian of sorts, a son, hopefully a father someday, a friend, etc., but over any of this i am a hardcore kid. it affects the way i view so many things in my life, including jesus.
hardcore is a subculture and it can be whatever you make of it. the concepts i take from hardcore that make me believe in jesus as a hardcore kid are these: compassion, acceptance, tolerance, aggressive action when appropriate, kindness, sharing, love and activism. these are all ‘ideal’ ways i wish to view the hardcore scene. it’s not always this way by any means.
in college my sister got me a subscription to this magazine, hm magazine (hard music magazine). i don’t know if the publication still exists (their site has a problem establishing a database connection?) but that coupled with a few friends really changed my perception of jesus. no longer did jesus have to be this grandpa in the sky. jesus didn’t just stand idly by when action needed to be taken. he didn’t have to always use force, but he was aggressive. jesus was fierce, he was a force to be reckoned with. i don’t mean this in the, “oh shit here comes jesus, you better get out of his way” kind of thing. i mean this in a, “damn, jesus, i don’t know how you stay so posi when these douchebags come in here ruining our scene and beatin up on people. it keeps me in good spirits and i wanna always be like that” kind of way. people respected jesus and you can guarantee that kids like that in a hardcore scene are respected, at least by me.
early on in hardcore i learned about something called straight edge. it was explained to me in a very simple way: no drugs, no drinking, often no premarital sex. you could argue that ian mackaye (minor threat, fugazi) is the guy who coined the term and sort of invented straight edge (inventor and coiner of terms isn’t really important but ian is important in straight edge). in my mind only knowing the ‘rules’ and not the ‘why’ behind straight edge i was like, “oh, so why don’t these guys and gals just be christians?” after some time of knowing about straight edge it occurred to me that it probably had nothing to do with religion but was more of a middle finger to religion, “we can do this and we don’t need a crutch (ie god) to lean on in being good, honest, clean, positive people.” straight edge is a choice and a way of life, it’s not one i choose but i greatly respect people who do. there are of course, like anything else, the bad sects of straight edge and we can call those folks ‘hardline.’ they’re the kids who might get pissed at you for smoking at a show and decide to beat the living crap out of you. understand me now, that’s not the hardcore kid i see in jesus. that’s hate and fear mongering as bad as westboro baptist. let me also say, not all hardline followers are violent, it just seems to be a trend, and often times the violent hardliners are associated with crews like FSU. (to my friends who know more about hardcore than me, if i’m incredibly wrong about this, please correct me)
regardless of your stance on just about anything, hardcore is a platform and a movement to express who you are and to be accepted for that. there’s a lot of kids who disgrace god and any notion of him but there’s also a lot who accept it and write great music about it. ideally these differing viewpoints get along but obviously there are conflicts at time. in my mind jesus is the posi hardcore kid, the one moshing around like my friend luke and holding up peace signs. he’s my friend joe who firmly corrected a kid for kicking me while i was moshing. he’s daniel who dances with such ferocity that you can’t help be excited. he’s vince who’s always compassionate and willing to help. he’s jeff the big tall dufus who let me ride around on his back in the pit. he’s nate who loves to stage dive and wears his x’s proudly. he’s tim who barreled through the crowd at my first hardcore show and joined right in. he’s travis who could spin kick your head off but doesn’t. jesus is my friend, a hardcore kid and so much more.