That is what Alton used to say before it was a placard hanging in guidance counselor's offices. That phrase keeps ricocheting around my brain this week with the advent of "normalizing" entering the daily lexicon of what I'm reading.
Normal. Does that mean as set by a standard of normalcy? Of Tradition? Of a court of Law or Mother Nature? Americans were sick of "business as usual", or rather, the rusting of the political machinery that had come to a grinding halt in Washington.
Trump is already breaking the "norms" and 'Traditions" of a President-Elect; by going AWOL from the Press and changing transitions team members as soon as he entered the river of the White House reality. He did look "shook" after his 90 minutes with Obama, David Chappell was on the nose w/SNL. Normally, the President-Elect would put his holdings in a private trust and keep members of the campaign team close at hand assuming that had served up good advice during the proceeding years to the West Wing. Neither are happening, and the fringe are moving into the foreground.
Normally family members of the President-Elect are separated from the day to day operations concerning policy, trade and military. Trump wants them all in, up to the highest level of security clearance, while still running his global enterprises.
Normally a President-Elect doesn't have to face a trial for Fraud in first 77 days (now 69- but whose counting) between the election and inauguration:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/11/trumps-legal-gambit-in-his-fraud-trial-is-also-a-fraud.html.
Normally, I don't hear people every where I go (store, restaurant, library, dog park, post office, gas station...) discussing the same topic for days! And folks who voted on different sides of the ticket are talking to each other about "why" and "what next". So some discourse is happening that stored in people's heads and not out in the air before November 8th, and that's a good thing.
Politics, like religion, are topics we are "normally" taught not to discuss in "mixed company", at dinner or at work. But now we all are starting to do so. I've heard more candid thoughts from people who voted for Trump, Clinton, Johnson or didn't vote than I've every heard before, during or after an election. I've always felt that not discussing religion and politics was a fallacy of logic regarding knowing some one fully or being a part of a community, as we'd never learn to accept and respect our differences. They were silent and hidden. This would result in atypical behavior when some one "unknowingly" said some thing offensive. Thus the rise of political correctness, and starting phrases with "I don't know your politics or religion, but....".
Normally we didn't group ourselves with "others who believed differently" that we did. Yet I thought we'd come farther than that. 9/11 made us take stock of our global voice and how "others" reacted to it. Now I feel that we have to take stock in our domestic voice and, I'll write it again, not react but actively listen to each other. Listen, listen, listen and then talk. It's like the British Miners and Gay Pride activist who joined forces to be heard and respected:
"In a decade when a degree of homophobia was the norm, LGSM drove a couple of minibuses from Hackney Community Transport and a clapped-out VW camper van to a bleak mining town in South Wales to present their donations, uncertain what sort of welcome to expect. The events that unfolded said a lot about what it means to be empathetic, to overcome dissent and face common enemies: Thatcher, the tabloids, the police. They told a story about solidarity. " https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/31/pride-film-gay-activists-miners-strike-interview
1985 Reagan/Thatcher years in the UK...yet, against the "norm" people with different sets of problems who would "normally" have very little exposure to each other, let alone actively supporting each other, came together to do just that. "Prejudice can't survive proximity" was the take away line from that film!
Thirty years later the norms of prejudice continue domestically and abroad. Used to be the Haves and Have Nots, followed by the Know and Know Nots, and now we are entering the era of Learners and Stuck in Neutrals. This is why education, STEM and reading are so important. This is why class, race and gender identity need to fully understood, explored and owned by each of us; not to differentiate from one another or be prejudice or hateful, but the opposite; to transcend our "normal lot": and support each other to each of our abilities.
We all have to continue to not accept Normal as a state of being, but rather a starting place for discussions to build a common language, understanding and foundation on which to build a better country and global community for us all. We honor the national traditions that hurt no one and keep order, so we can progress. And try to look at each other as unique individuals who each have a place of respect in this country. I'd like to set our society to that "Normal" on a cultural dial and let peace warmly reign.
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