Was it normal or just familiar?
In a lot of different ways, we've come to a point in our lives where we discuss normalcy, particularly in respect to societal changes.
Some people discuss behavioral changes in young people across various contexts. Others discuss systems evolvements, think about the legal system and how it treats criminals.
These changes becoming a focus of intense debates, in increasing numbers on social platforms gets me thinking.
One thing has always stood out for me when people engage in conversations like this. Understand that these conversations are usually about comparisons of what is now, and what was before.
As you can imagine, the common theme of these debates will be how what is considered “normal” has changed.
A parent might tell a child that when he or she was their age, that it was “normal” to be respectful and not be a smart mouth.
Get the picture?
We have various experiences, activities, processes, etc that have won the title of being the norm and I question, do most of these things really satisfy the meaning of that word?
Without focusing on any of the examples above, I wanted to write briefly on this
Normalcy is mostly familiarity
Is it normal to want to be rich or it's just a familiar desire picked up from your environment?
Is it normal to respect authority or it is just a familiarity action that was adopted?
Is it normal to eat 3 times a day or it's just a familiarity with the concept of breakfast, launch and dinner?
The more you list out various things that we often consider normal to want, normal to do, or normal to embrace, the more it becomes clear that these things are just results of things familiar to oneself.
The word “normal” in most cases suggests that something cannot be faulted or argued against to be any different from what it is known to be or seen as, at any given point.
Yet, after careful review of all that experiences have taught us to call normal, it has become clear that it is all borrowed ideas, shaping us into forms that embrace what has always been familiar to us.
Given this discovery, it only makes sense that we should avoid quickness to judgement, because what looks strange to one person and we might called abnormal is totally normal to others. At the end of the day, every one's realities are different.
While in some context, questions of ethicality and mortality may ensue, but it wouldn't still take away from the fact that normalcy, as we apply it, is just familiarity gained through life experiences in our individual environments.
Most people think of normalcy as equating to “rightness,” "original state" and sometimes even "good," but it is just a case of expecting something to be in a specific state or form and said expectations are influenced by familiarities with past experiences.
This is probably Art. | Image: Pixabay