Normal
To say something is normal is to say it is common, typical, the usual, same. Yet, if we think of snowflakes no two are alike. Nor are daisy petals or zebra stripes, fingerprints or the retina of the eyes of every one of us. So it seems that none of those items or a gazillion other examples, are normal in that they are all uniquely different. What does it mean when you say I am not normal?
Many believe that ‘normal’ is some kind of measure that is close to the middle of the data set of all the things being measured, such as how tall you and I are. Out of all the people in the world, the tall and small, the least conspicuous are, supposedly, closest to normal. Yet if normal includes all the data, every person, regardless of height is normal. If I seem tall should I be striving to be shorter, closer to normal?
This concept of normal, what is the purpose of it? If all things are a part of some set of these or those things or other. And if all items in the data set are normal. Then we have nothing to be aghast about, nothing to be judgmental about, nothing to put on a pedestal or complain about. Hmmm? And too, aren’t such reactions themselves normal? We love to compare and then grade every kind of thing. What is that?
One day someone decided that normal meant average. That is when the trouble started. That is when ‘abnormal’ was invented. That was the day that not one of us could claim to be normal. Well, maybe there would be one person who might be exactly average. All the rest of us became abnormal, not exactly, precisely average. Tah dah, judgment, huge amounts of judgment, became possible. Ego was delighted
It seems that we are all normal, yet, some will be given the title of above normal or below normal. Those utterances can come packaged as above average or below average and ‘not normal’ combined. Gee, I wonder what the effect might be if we could truly embrace normal as including all points in the data set. You and I could both be normal while maintaining our uniqueness. We might even get celebrated. I’m in