You're Weird

"Normal is a setting on the washing machine"

"We don't use the word "normal". It implies abnormal, which we also don't use."  

There is a stigma about the word normal. Or the word abnormal. And to be honest, I am not sure which is more frowned upon. You can't use the word abnormal, because it's rude. You can't use normal, because it implies that something or someone else is abnormal. But what is normal? If we're looking at the dictionary, it means "conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected."

Now, normal is simply what the majority of people do. The majority of people live in houses. So it is normal to live in a house. If I decided to live on a boat or in a teepee, that would mean I am not normal. Would it mean that there is something wrong with me? No. It would mean that I have made a choice to do something different from the norm. Which is well within my rights to do. And, which is one of the big things that has driven our history. 

Pick up any history book and you'll see a whole line of people doing things that are abnormal.

The norm would be to remain in your city where it was safe and comfortable.

Then you have your weirdos who decide to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean, and set out away from the comforts of the city with some boats and an Indian woman as a guide.

The norm would have been to drink British tea, and gripe about the taxes.

Then there are those crazies who decided to dump the tea in the harbour to make a point that the taxes weren't ok.

Abnormal, different, unique. These words have become almost forbidden in our society. We don't want to point out the things that make us different, because we "don't want to embarrass someone else". Unique is the most tolerated of these words, because it still has more positive connotations to it. Abnormal means you have bad differences, differences that people don't like. Unique means the differences are good. Maybe you're super intelligent, or a great artist. But even then, we shouldn't stress the differences too much, because it'll make the people around you feel bad. They'll think that, because they aren't unique in the same way that you are, they're not special, or they're not good enough. See where the problem comes in? If we're all unique in the same way, then no one is unique. Or special. Or different. Or abnormal.

I read a lot. In case you haven't noticed. One type of book that I have read a fair bit of recently is the dystopian novel. One big thing that is often in these books is uniformity. We have peace and prosperity because everyone is the same. No one is better than anyone else, no one can advance due to their own merits, but moves along at the same pace that everyone else moves along at, because everyone has to be the same. Or they have differences still, but people are separated into groups that fit the main differences that are found in society. Like in the Divergent series. Each person chose a faction to be in for the rest of their lives. The factions were totally different, which meant that you'd be different from 3/4 of the population. But within your faction, you should not stand out.

But what also happens in all of those books? Someone decides that this is not the way to live. Or someone is forced into that realization. A revolution is started and people learn that they are not mindless robots, but they are humans, and as such are meant to feel and to be unique and different from each other.

I was just listening to The Giver (best Dystopian novel ever...). Toward the end of the book (SPOILER ALERT!!!), Jonas, who was chosen to be the Receiver of Memories, has left his town and is facing the realization that he may starve to death before he manages to find help. He questions if it would have been better had he never received the memories and never understood what it was to have feelings, and to be different from everyone around him. But he knows that if he would have stayed in his community, not knowing any more than the people around him, he would have starved in a different way. He would have starved for feelings, and something deeper than what he was experiencing, even if he had no clue that there was anything else out there. And even as he is staring at death, he is content with his choices, because it is better to die knowing what makes us human than to live without ever learning it.

Read the book to find out what happens to him (and just know, I don't always read books that have happy endings...Les Miserables is my favourite...So the ending may not be predictable.) It's a quick read, so just go for it.

We try so hard to be politically correct that we end up ignoring the differences that make us who we are. We talk about what we have in common, and seldom about the things on which we disagree. I like my differences. I like being unique, different, and even abnormal. We should have the decency to not slam people for their differences. Just because I take 8 million pictures of anything and everything (yes, that is something that I have been called weird/stupid/etc for before...), that doesn't mean I am a bad person. It means I process life differently than you do. Just because your idea of fun is spending any free time with other people (something I would hate doing, I can hardly stand people once or twice a week), it doesn't mean that I think you're bad. We're different. And if we weren't different, the world would be a sad place indeed. We're all special little snowflakes.