Why can't you be normal! ..........

-Why can't you be like a normal person?

Why do you always have to be so damned deep

and serious all the time?  he asked impatiently.

She thought for a moment and then answered:

-I don't know what it's like to be a normal person, 

I only know what it's like to be me. 

This may make me seem like a singularity rather than a

commonality, yet, all life lived is predominantly experienced 

by each of us individually isn't it?

-Oh, shut up with that deep and probing stuff! he said

and then looked at her with a big grin on his face.

(This is an actual conversation I had in the car one night

when Tommie(my drummer friend) and I were on the

way home from a gig.)

Singularity can mean a lot of different things,

but for the purpose of this blog I am using the

the option(s) that means: singular/unique/one of a kind.

The opposite of singularity is as far as I can ascertain: 

  common/standard/normal etc.

Collectors know that for something to be really

valuable it has to be rare.

Watching ''Antiques Roadshow'' on Telly one afternoon,

in this particular episode they showed a woman

 who had brought with her a little porcelain vase for the

experts to appraise.

When asked where she had bought the little vase the

woman told the expert that she had bought it in a second hand

store for a pound fifty.

-Do you collect porcelain vases? asked the expert.

-Oh, no, I don't. I bought it on impulse one day while 

I was waiting for my bus. 

-And was this in a specialty shop selling porcelain?

-Oh, no, I bought it from a second hand store.

-What made you buy this particular vase?

-I don't know really. It just looked so delicate and beautiful.

-I see, well let me have a little look, said the expert.

The expert put on some soft gloves and then picked up the

little vase to have a close look. 

-Well my dear, I have to commend you on your purchase

because this little vase is one of a very small number of

similar vases made in China during the Yuan Dynasty.

This little beauty was made somewhere between the late

1200's  and early 1300's.

A gasp went through the crowd watching.

-Would you like to know how much it is worth, dear?

-Yes, please.

-This little vase is worth somewhere between 95.000 and

120.000 pound.

On hearing this the crowd burst out in to rapturous applauds and 

cheering. The woman who owned the vase, clutched her

heart and then gently whispered: -Well, I never.

If it impossible for two human beings to have identical/exactly

the same DNA(except for clones) does that not mean that

basically every one of us is a singularity?

And since each of us are unique/one of a kind, ought that

not make each of us priceless?

So why do we seem to find it so difficult to accept

and enjoy each others differences?

Why do we seem to value normal and common more

than ''different''?

Wouldn't it be nice if we could learn to appreciate

each others quirks and differences rather than mock them?

''The world needs psychological singularity, that is

oneness between humans, not some pompous

bio-technological singularity.''

(Abhijit Naskar)

about the image: ''Singularity''

Soft pastel on paper