Normal. It has long been established through endless experiments on water crystals,plants, and even rice, the unbelievable power words provide us. Many of us have been exposed to inspirational messages gifting words as the fuel to success. Perhaps some of us have read one of the hundreds of books on this specific topic alone, after all Think and Grow Rich has held a solid spot on the ‘must read’ list promoted by many entrepreneurs for decades. The manifestation of words is literally the birth of passage for ideas. These very ideas, we then nurture into concepts that formulate our reality to foster our understanding which transform into our values that drive our very existence. The knowledge that words have power, one could safely say today, seems to fall into the 'common sense' bucket, after all if a young child, Jackson Drew, can explore this very topic and relay his findings per a TED-Ed Student Talks episode, I’d say it’s safe to say we all know it to be among the elements of truth, just not one that we necessarily take into consideration on a daily basis.
Normal. For many of us, the rhyme, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me," holds a familiar bond with our childhood memories, the only difference perhaps is to which side of the tune we stood. The irony that embodies this childhood rhyme is uncanny in its core, created in a defense against name-calling and verbal bullying, an apparent challenge in the 1830's when Alexander Williams Kinglake first birthed it. The big mystery surrounding this American staple is how we could believe a rhyme dismissing the value and power words embody, would or ever could be a successful tool, a defense, a weapon rather to combat the destruction of negative words shot off in an attack against us. To put it simply, the very existence of the rhyme, negates the rhyme. Breaking it down, the power of words brought such negativity to people's lives, Kinglake created a rhyme derived from words, relaying that words hold no power, in hopes the rhyme would bring strength to victims through the power of the words in the rhyme. The image that floods my mind depicting this rhyme is a world in which firefighters use cherry bombs to put out fires and combat floods with water hoses. It is moments of awakening such as these that make me question how mankind has made it this far, or lasted this long.
Normal. The one word that has never failed to bring me discomfort, pain, or hardship. The word I could never understand, never grasp on any level, which is deeply depicted in my choosing a journey focused in brining as much distance between the imperial 'normal' and myself. Normal is defined as 'conforming to a typical, or routine' and further depicted as 'approximating the statistical average or norm'. By definition, 'normal' is less than, is not the top, the best, the road to greatness or even complete. 'Normal' is simply the most. Normal brings no depth, no creativity, no innovation, no amazing, no exceptional, and has little desire for whether it grows or stands still. Our country's obsession with 'normal' is the true sickness that is killing us. We have built a society that revolves around 'normal'. Our society's addiction to the status quo is the very thing killing our creativity and suffocating our innovation and as long as we continue to hold 'normal' up on a pedestal, our movement forward, will forever be chained down.
Normal. Today, ‘normal’ has become synonymous with our freedom from Covid-19, frequently painted as our desired destination. It is used to represent our victory, and referenced to as our ultimate success, our country’s happy place. Like a broken record on repeat, “When things go back to normal,” has become a coined phrase by most. “Remember when things were normal?” “When do you think things will be normal again?” Not surprising though, if you think about it, ‘normal’ has always been a goal to strive for. In grade school, we place value on a child’s ability to learn at a ‘normal’ pace, and are given grades based on how ‘normal’ we are in comparison to our peers. Our benchmarks stem from a chart created by degrees of ‘normal.’ This need for ‘normal’ is a redundant pattern throughout our history. Unfortunately, society’s fixation on surrounding themselves with ‘normal’ ultimately breeds the very intolerance for that which is 'abnormal' thus a significant driving factor in our country’s continual hold on racism. Differences can never be celebrated in a society fixated on manifesting ‘normal’. Likewise, bullying will always thrive in places that rely on ‘normal’ as the sole depiction of value.
Normal. Perhaps even more bizarre than our need for everything ‘normal’, is our contradiction to what defines ‘normal’, giving it slender, restrictive, and narrow pathways to obtain-ability and installing additional prerequisites preventing sustainability. While ‘normal’ by definition is designed by a broad span collection, our society seemingly adds hurdles to clear based not on commonality, but rather bias, discriminating, and rather racist criteria. Our country’s need for ‘normal’, not the virus, is our biggest enemy. Our strong desire to do what we ‘normally’ do is the iron hold that prevents many from progress, moving forward, seeking innovation, and/or from pushing barriers. ‘Normal’ is the sticky resistance that prevents many from adapting to the degree typically needed to truly flourish. ‘Normal’ pulls us down to a satisfactory level for progress and achievement. Historically, ‘normal’ has been an excuse to quit, a reason to bully, and a justification for mistreatment. ‘Normal’ has never been a necessary qualification for admission into Harvard or the desired talent in a competition, nor the reason one gets the job. In fact, the only time I can recall wanting to hear ‘normal’ was following a biopsy.
Normal. Today, more than ever before, our country's cries for 'normal' roar throughout the nation are causing destruction and preventing any significant success from becoming florishin. Our fellow Americans resist partaking in any such activity that would dare take them away from their 'normal', even refusing to wear a mask, followed with demands we return to 'the normal' they hold to such high value. Many of our small businesses are boxed in 'normal', and are closing because of their deep resistance to change, to different, to innovation, to movement forward, and to overcoming challenges, all because their need for 'normal' has been so deeply ingrained into them as the only way. Many small businesses see no other way to conduct business other than that which is the 'normal' way, seeing 'normal' as the only way. Instead of looking at this moment in time as an opportunity to grow, or as a time to find creative and innovative new ways to gain completely new groups of customers by creating different and new pathways of recockongnition, most quickly throw up their hands in defeat. While we easily hear echoing cries of businesses closing, we can not ignore the many businesses that have been started during the pandemic from scratch, built a solid following, and are thriving regardless or the few small businesses who dared to step out of their box, restructured their lifelines, and building a new platform of focus that has allowed them to not simply overcome, but elevate their entire business, now and into the future. Why can this not be our 'normal'?
Normal. Why do we allow society and ourselves to be prisoners to a ‘normal’ that brings us no innovation, adds no value to our lives, and provides no path to succeed? Without a doubt, words hold power and some like, ‘normal’, hold power over us, restrain us, diminish us, and prevent us from all we could really be, driving us away from our true destiny. I encourage everyone to forgo ‘normal’ from their vocabulary. As a dyslexic, this word is particularly hurtful, particularly hindering, and frequently used against dyslexics. The power ‘normal’ holds, without notice or much thought, allows for the remanence of discrimination or prejudice to linger. My brain to non-dyslexics is considered 'abnormal', further classified as disabled. This classification alone makes me less than in the eyes of the ‘normal’, and signifies there is little need to try and understand the 'abnormal', as understanding 'abnormal', besides impossible, is undesirable, obviously low on the value list. Our need for ‘normal’ fosters the racism and prejudice our country has held on to for some time. 'Normal' creates a distaste for different, it’s arch enemy. My way of thinking, of processing, of being, is not something ‘normal’ people value but rather is the very flaw that will forever prevent dyslexics from bringing the impactful innovation and strides forward we were meant to bring about, the very movement society has forever relied on throughout history to elevate us into the future.
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