Normal

I don’t think that I ever wanted to be normal. There are many ways in which I conformed to what was expected of me. I followed the demands of teachers, I complied with my parents, I conformed to the expectations of being a good catholic boy. But there has always been an inclination to stretch and venture outside of what most would consider normal. That includes my intention to be exceptional. I found ways to wiggle outside of being normal. I never saw myself as ordinary.

This got confirmation when I entered my 60’s and was diagnosed as having Asperberger Syndrome. This was not a great surprise and it confirmed that I never was someone who routinely fit in. In fact, following the norms of psychology, it confirmed that I was not normal. It gave me liberty to be just who I really wanted to be.

I’ve come to see that what society calls normal is simply the middle hump on a bell shaped curve. Normal is simply another way of saying average. There are many of us who make up the two tails of that curve, and I am happy to be in the not-normal group. As my two kids remind me, the path we follow in not being normal actually adds interest and depth to the human condition. I think the people who have furthered human development were seldom normal. Those of us who are not normal offer new possibilities to what it means to be human.

I don’t have a critical attitude about all the people who are normal. I think, it is their overwhelming numbers that makes them normal. I am happy, however, to be outside of normal. I am glad that I am not normal. And I don’t plan to change