The Absurdity of Normal
Jon Allen 
Normal.
If you are a word junkie, then the dictionary is your bible, the gospel. And according to the Good Book, “normal” is an adjective. It’s definition:
“Conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural.”
Depending on the user, this adjective can be thrown as an insult, a jab, a barb towards one’s existence. Additionally, it can be a reflection upon the shortcomings of the orator himself.
Case in point; the inherently evil Jim Crow era, which lasted from 1876 until 1965, only twelve years before my own birth-and I am still a relatively young man. Whether it was de facto in the North or de jure in the South, blatant and institutionalized racism and segregation was considered “normal” in this country. Man was on the verge of stepping foot on the moon, baby boomers were revolutionizing music and schools of thought, the seeds that would create the internet were a few years away, and in major cities across the United States, diners, drinking fountains and public restrooms were separated with two sobering words: Whites or Coloreds.
This was how the world spun for millions. This was a long gaze without a blink. This was, in some twisted dose of dysfunction, normal.
Conversely, looking at the citizens of the Earth today, for all of our shortcomings and insufficiencies, America often serves as a standard. Not an hour goes by without some grave injustice in places such as North Korea, Darfur and Tibet. The impoverished, tortured people of these lands have lost the cosmic coin toss; they had no choice in where they would be born. They have little hope and even less opportunity. In our country, even the most barbaric ghetto or backwoods Appalachian child has a shot. We hear the stories everyday. “Rags to riches” is almost an exclusively American term. To us, the lands that are run by war lords and pirates and religious zealots and dictators are a blemish to the world, an archaic curiosity, a bizarre and cruel entity.
How easy things could be if they just followed our path, we say, and we are partially correct. Why can’t they just be normal-like us?
Not even forty years in between, we have had our bad “normal” and our good “normal”. We have shown the universe our best and our worst. Of course, we are still lodged between the two, and forever will be. There are unending nuances, trends, lifestyles and cultural shifts, and the normalcy of these will change with the seasons. Normal is like beauty. It is in the eyes of the beholder. There is no right or wrong, no true or false answer key; it is an essay, open for interpretation.
All we are left with is a grey area.
This is what inspired me to write Throwaway Kids. Wesley Gamble is fairly normal in our current times, certainly within his demographic. Duffy Saxson certainly is not. Who is the more extreme between the two at the end of the day?
And there is the rub.
So much can be said for the right/wrong paradigm of both. The topics at play are quite polarizing. Hopefully, it plays tug-of-war with the reader’s mind. I do not have a dog in the fight myself; my goal is to simply spark a conversation.
Just keep the debates flowing with “normal” decorum.
Reader Comments (1)
Normal is relative. Hopefully those who suffer will be introduced to a different normal, compassion. Those who's normal is to fight perhaps will have peace. But then again, we all find happiness in our own way, perhaps normal could just be comfortable.