normal

  I read where Unilever, that's the corporation that has such brands as Dove soap, Vaseline, and a variety of beauty products, will not be using the word normal on any of their products. The reason? Seems as though a market research team conducted a study and discovered this: the general public feel uncomfortable with the word, normal. Yes, like this lotion is for normal skin, not dry skin. Normal, as it turned out, isn't a good thing. People no longer want to be normal. No, today people want to be the exception, not the rule. And that, in my untrained view, is a direct reflection of America today. I come from a time in America when being normal was the preferred condition. In fact, it was encouraged. The premise when I was young was to fit in, adapt to the situation, and well, be a normal human being. We were instructed to straighten up and fly right! We had a good understanding of what was normal and what was not! Surely no studies were required to determine that. If you got out of line it would be said, that boy ain't normal! 

 Now I'm certain this decision to study that came about as we are busy attempting to cancel American culture. The focus is on race these days, nothing new about that, and an area that does need improvement. You are not going to improve that by placing one race over the other in some misguided attempt at creating equality. It really is as I have pointed out many times. Everyone wants equality, to be treated equally, right up until the time they are. It is at that point the excuses, the reasons, the justification for those folks to receive something different, something just a bit more. That comes in many forms, charity, special programs, unique identifiers or whatever. The reasoning is, because you have more money that I do, and we should all be equal, you should give me your money. You can apply that logic to anything you like, jobs, housing, cars, music, movies , fame and the list is endless. Everyone wants to be equal until they are! And you know what, that's normal. 

 Today everyone wants to be the exception. It started for me with this notion that everyone is a hero. I went to work, did the job I was paid to do, and so, I'm a hero. No, you are not. You see that's part of the problem today, we don't have any heroes. Everyone is attacked, vilified, degraded, and found fault with. Real heroes no longer exist, now everyone is the hero and that, that is the problem. I wouldn't say our Presidents have always been heroes, although a few attained that status, but they were all respected, well until Nixon came along anyway. Nixon resigned his presidency to avoid an impeachment trial where he certainly would have been found guilty. It wasn't that previous Presidents hadn't done things just as bad, it was just that Dick caught caught. The attack had begun and it has been a feeding frenzy ever since. My only point being, when I was young aspiring to be the President was a good thing, a noble quest, and anyone in that office was to be admired. I don't believe that is the perception today. 

 Well I don't think of myself as any great philosopher, more as an observer. My hope is to be considered normal. That isn't always the case among those that know me and even today there are those that will tell you otherwise but I'm no hero that much is certain. But in my observation you can't have much of a club without everyone agreeing to the rules. That is to say, agreeing upon what is normal. Standards are required! 

 In order to have standards you have define what is sub-par, what is the normal condition, and what exceeds that condition. There is normal and there is different. The thing to understand about all of that is; being different doesn't mean you are the exception. It means you are different. Being different isn't necessarily a bad thing, it is a thing, a condition other than what is expected or normal. It's my feeling we can not and we should not attempt to cancel what is normal! Now it's true that each of us are different, but we get along best when we are the same. When we all become the same, someone wants to to be different, to stand out from the crowd. That gets adopted as the new normal and the cycle continues. Those changing the norms always convinced it is better. It's better because they want that behavior to be viewed as, you got it, normal. 

 I guess normal is whatever you are willing to accept and adopt. That's your normal. When others act outside those parameters, they aren't normal. I do believe we all attempt to be abnormal in some way. Each of us do seek our fifteen minutes of fame, even if it is only a second at a time. We do that through the pursuit of our hobbies or occupation. We have the desire to create something outside the norm. Something better. Unilever did a study and it showed that, people are uncomfortable with normal. Really, no one wants to be normal. The real problem with normal? People won't buy it.