So,
let’s start with a question: What’s normal?
And,
a good next question: Is anything normal?
I’m
going with no clue and no as answers. And yet, here we are, all
of us thinking individually that we’re each normal and that day
to day so are our lives. Which is where the lines blur and the
reality gets warped.
Watch.
Favorite
music? Favorite food? Favorite television program? Favorite person
in the world?
There
are millions of people in the world that hate that band, have
no interest in that dinner choice, will not sit through an episode
of that show, and really aren’t all that interested in that person.
(I know that, try my best, there’s at least one person in the
world that doesn’t like me. Right or wrong, they don’t. And deep
down, you know that’s true for you as well. Best friends of yours
or not, there is someone that doesn’t want to spend another second
around them.)
(I
know. Kind of crazy. David Tennant and Michael Sheen. We ALL
should be watching Good Omens. Everyone loves them.)
Used
to be that if an album sold one million copies, there was applause,
celebration, and likely at least one media report discussing how
it contains the songs of the summer. But sell that in just the
United States, with more than three hundred million people, those
sales numbers mean 299 out of every 300 didn’t buy the album.
So how is it the album everyone’s talking about? Why are those
that didn’t buy it presented as the very very small minority instead
of the vast majority? Why are those that did buy it portrayed
as normal?
We
all have our preferences. We all have our way of doing things.
And, it should be easy enough to understand and agree upon, if
you want to eat one thing while I eat another then none of the
differences should matter. Enjoy your meal. Even so, that doesn’t
make your pizza or my cheeseburger normal. Average, yeah. But
normal? Because average and normal are different words that offer
only the occasional crossover gray area. (Yup. It’s not normal
to use average as normal.)
Every
so often people talk about this or that returning to normal. Or
some phrase that is worded in a way that suggests heading back
to normal. Depending on the subject being covered, we all nod
when we hear it, because a return to normal would be welcome.
But… ok…
This
summer, Phoenix broke their record of consecutive days reaching
at least 110-degrees. Their run lasted 31-days. And the reason
it didn’t go to 32-days was because on day 32 the official temperature
hit a chilly 108.
As
I write and edit this, Orlando is in a string of days forecast
to reach 97. That will break with a couple of days of 94.
Now,
many people would say it’s summer. It’s supposed to be hot. High
temperatures are normal. Not an outrageous concept. But 110-degrees
is hot. And 95-degrees is hot. Still, you cannot just put the
two together willy-nilly and call them normal in the same sentence.
And then…
Same
time, sections of New York? Buffalo? Let’s use Buffalo. 76 then
77 then 74 then… see where this is going? What’s normal? Where
are the borders set up? What’s the line?
Sure,
it’s not arbitrary. We can set lines. We know Phoenix is not Orlando
is not Buffalo. That’s why the difference in the summer is obvious
on the thermometer, but for the winter we measure the difference
by comparing feet of snow to bare ground.
Still,
normal. I’m the judge of it in my house. You’re the judge in your
house. A bit of an overlap, but I’m guessing not everything matches
up.
I’m
going to make some dinner. Maybe watch some television while I
eat. Don’t know what you’ve got planned. (Chances are good it
will probably be pretty normal.)