To be or not to be normal
Is normal a virtue, or should it be? Does normal simply mean lack of courage, lack of adventure or lack of difficulty? Maybe normal is an artificial state of mind none of us reach – and if we did, I suspect we want to make radical changes. I feel like waking up Jack Kerouac to get his take on things but maybe all I needed was for him to wake me up.
A while back a pal tried to hook me up with a girlfriend. I told her not to get me any normal chicks, because there wasn’t a prayer it would work out. She came back saying she didn’t know any crazy women, or something of the sort.
It never occurred to me that she would think the opposite of normal was crazy. I thought the opposite of normal was weird. Is that weird?
It’s been years since I equated non-normal with insane. Guess because I’m not all that fond of what passes for normal. Don’t know who’s in charge of normality, other than “society”, and I ain’t never met nobody named that. If normal means buying into the soulless consumerist hogwash I see replicated on TV, then I’m the sworn enemy of it.
If normal means being happy, then I’m for it. But I think it means not thinking about anything, or at least not being tormented by one’s conclusions. As pleasant as that might be, it’s not for me, darn it.
Your non-normal normal person,
LWIII
normal
thank you for the thoughts about it
I guess I thought of normal as someone that does not interact with the abnormal, or pretends not to let it bother them or influence them.
but abnormal seems to blur as more and more tv shows embrace dramatic abnormality
maybe normal is more sitcom in my eyes, where the characters drone along and we simply laugh at them for it as the audience.
maybe there really is no such thing as normal… its a like ‘them’ in a way, where we all are normal or we all are them until we become me…
xx azyh
Thanks Azyh, very much! Normal is most definitely them. It’s one of those words that slides all over the place. Many meanings, many normals.
xoxo
[...] To Be or Not to Be Normal from Lone Wolf Howling made me smile because, while I am considered crazy by a lot of people, and am definitely not normal, I never thought of myself as weird. [...]
Ha, thanks CM! What’s in a word? Weird is just a different different. One person’s weird is another’s silly.
Normal? The absence of any outstanding characteristics.
None for me thanks.
To clarify – I prefer to keep my outstanding characteristics. Took me a long time to appreciate them.
Thanks Andrea! Though I guess normal is like asleep or rich, nobody will ever admit to any of them.
If everybody acted only according to the norm, then how would we ever see change? And could it not have been people acting outside of the norm who created part of what is now considered normal behavior? Even a simple thing that we take for granted, like eating with utensils instead of with our hands,was not the norm at one time. I know this is a cultural example, but it’s early and I haven’t had my second cup of coffee yet.
Maybe normal is a subjective concept. If my friend who is trying to set me up on a date with someone hears me say that I only want to date someone who isn’t normal, he or she might understand “crazy or weird”, but would I not be really trying to communicate that I only wanted to date someone who could potentially blow me away in a positive sense? Would I not be asking the universe, “Please, let me be impressed this time”?
The way I see it, behaving according to the norm and being normal are not the same things.
Maybe things seem shaky now in a cosmic sense because people are putting so much energy into being “normal” and chafing against what makes them unique, rather than heeding their small voice and taking a chance at exploring their uniqueness.
Not everything that is outside of normal is the best of circumstances, like a child who grows up in a alcoholic home, and to them that behavior is normal because it’s what they know and have adapted to – that is until they are old enough to start exploring the world and see that other families don’t have the same practices. Suddenly that child is given the opportunity to explore other types of normal. If they are lucky or willing to do the work, they find that a better “normal” can be had, so they adjust and create that new “normal” for themselves. It is a revelation to the child that they don’t have to be “normal” in terms of how his or her family lives. They can shatter their rice bowl and move on to something else.
I guess I could go on and on and bore you to death with this. Thanks for posing the question.
Namaste’
It would be interesting to know how many people think normal is good and how many think it’s bad. The people who equate normal with sane probably like it.
Thanks for sharing Andrea!
Yes it would be interesting. I would also be curious as how how respondents would compare normal with abnormal and with non-normal and see if they perceive one or the other in a better light. Normal relative to the word average would also work well in that sort of study. In moral terms (normal being good vs. bad), I don’t have a clue how that sort of study could be structured. I also think it would get the most honest response if it required a first response as opposed to taking time to think about it before responding. If I learn of any studies that have been conducted along these lines, I’ll let you know.
If you hear anything, let me know, thanks!