The problem with "normal"....

In a time when individuality is treasured more than ever before, I can't help but wonder why at the same time the word "normal" gets so much play. What is normal anyway and whats so good about it?

Normal as far as I can gather means; common, usual, average, common standard and the term normal behaviour; expected behaviour given the circumstances. How often do we hear the comment: normal people, normal thinking, normal jobs, normal behaviours, etc.etc, what does it really mean though, because read between the lines, normal seem to mean the only really acceptable way.

If  the word normal remains true to the definition "average" then there is no bias attached, it's just a statistical definition, so how did the word morph from a statistic to become a sharp implement?

("Normal" or rather not being so, is often a tool used by bullies to intimidate others with)

When the child is too free spirited at a birthday party, we tell him/her, calm down, behave like the other children, act normal. When the teenager suddenly starts to dress in only black, paint his face white and wear make-up, we ask ourselves why he is behaving so strangely, when will he be normal again. When a person bursts out into a flood of tears in the local food court, we avoid coming too close, because the person is obviously not normal. Not the mention all the people who talk to themselves, speak in an" abnormally" loud voice, laughs too much, speaks too fast, smiles too big or too much, is too kind, and especially those who seem filled with an excessive amount of happiness or joy.     Hmmm......really, what's so good about being normal, because it seems to me that so many of those "abnormal" people have come up with ideas that seemed "abnormal" at the time, only for us normal people to later realise were not "abnormal" at all rather ingenious as a matter of fact.

Growing old and showing the signs thereof is to be avoided nowadays although it is part of the human experience. We dye our hair, inject poisons, cut and slice, lift and tuck, hide and deny, because to be an elder in our contemporary society is no longer a badge of honour, rather a reminder of life's impermanence and normal people don't want to be reminded of it. Everywhere we go we are reminded of what  "successful normal" looks like, the information comes screaming into our lives every minute of the day through one of the myriad of "i-thingys" available, or the TV, or the radio, or the papers and so on. If you're too big, too small, too foreign, too common, too loud, too quiet, too smart, too dumb, too artistic, too sensitive, too complicated, too truthful, too honest, too straight forward, too awkward, too colourful, too bland, too poor, too strange, too short, too tall, too nerdy, too geeky, etc.etc.....

you are not normal. If normal=average then behaviours on either side of the average are just statistically less common and requires no attachment of moral judgements.

 Which brings me back to the beginning of this blog..if we treasure individuality so much why do we alienate those who fall on either side of  "normal"? The problem with "normal" is that it frowns on originality, creativity and daring visionaries and I wonder if that really is in the best interest of mankind; after all, those "abnormal" people have given us electricity, combustion engines, aeroplanes, space shuttles, digital interfaces, mobile phones, computers, i-thingys and wonderful works of art, music, dance, architecture, movies...well, thank goodness for people on either side of the bell curve I say.