Michael Di Lauro

Ever find yourself lying in bed, in the early morning, having one of those dreamy half-awake, half-asleep internal conversations? It happened to me again just this morning. Here’s how it went…

So, what is wrong with normal?

What the… Who are you?

I’m your alter-ego. Think of me as your internal, close-captioned, personal zeitgeist. I’m the yin to your yang. I zig when you zag.

You like clichés much?

I do tend to run on some

Really? Hadn’t noticed… Well, what do you want?

I want to keep tabs on you, check out what’s on your mind

Look pal, I’m not really into supervision… Hey, hang on a minute, this might be fun. You mind if I write stuff  down?

No, no, no. No writing down. When they sent for me, nobody said anything about writing things down. Plus, I’ve seen your work. I don’t want to be taken out of context

Taken out of context? What’s with you? Delusions of celebrity status? And what do you mean sent for? Who sent you here?

Your imagination

Aargh, I wish I could turn that thing off, just once…

Look I don’t have all day, so could we get started?

Alright, alright. Start with what?

Start by telling me what’s wrong with normal

Not much, I guess.

Not much? It’s in the title. That tells me something’s up

Hey, no peeking… You need to respect people’s privacy, man… Oh alright… Let’s just put it this way; the world has a tenacious appetite for it.

Normal?

Yeah.

What do you mean—tenacious appetite?

Here’s a theory. It’s not my theory. I first heard it from my friend Gwen. But I like it, and I’m using it. So there.

Yes, yes, very well. And that theory is?

That the range of normal is narrowing all the time.

Uh?

Let me express it another way. It seems, these days, there’s a hell of a lot of stuff getting tagged as abnormal.

For instance?

Did you know there’s medication for shyness?

So?

Well, wouldn’t the existence of medication suggest that shyness is abnormal?

I’m not sure, really

And it’s not called shyness anymore, either. There’s a fancy name for it—Social Anxiety Disorder. And, you can bet, when someone coins a fancy name for something, there’s a good chance those same someones not only want to label it abnormal—they want to give you medication for it.

So a cynic, eh? I had no idea. As your alter-ego, I really should be made aware…

And divorce.

Sorry?

Divorce.  Apparently that’s not normal either.

Do they have medication for that as well?

Hell, I don’t know. Look it up.

You’re combative too?

Sometimes. Is that normal? Do you think?

Hmm… I’m not sure

Look, forget all that. What I’m saying is there’s just too much pigeonholing going on.

How so?

Waddya mean, how so? Don’t alter-egos have magazines and TVs? You never saw those ads?

Ads? What ads?

The ones that start with, “Do you suffer from?” The list is endless… sleeplessness, sadness, short attention span, forgetfulness, moodiness…

OK, alright, I get the picture

What’s worse though are the supposedly abnormal behavioural traits.

Like shyness and divorce?

Yeah, then there’s the talkative and the taciturn; neither, apparently, is normal. Normal, it seems, only exists on a very narrow point, somewhere in the middle. What I’m saying is, society is getting damn fussy about normal. And, by extension, it’s overvaluing conformity.

You got something against conformity?

I’ve got something against what it leads to.

Explain

There is, I believe, A growing intolerance for non-conformity.

I’m not sure about that. I haven’t seen evidence of that… then again I’m an alter-ego, we don’t get out much

Look at it as a series of equations. If non-conformity equals not normal. And not normal equals bad. Then non-conformity also equals bad.

I, um, was never good at math. What does it all mean?

It’s simple, it means society frowns on non-conformity, and because non-conformity also equates with individuality, then society frowns on individuality.

Great, math again

Look, all I’m saying is that non-conformity—and individuality—should be encouraged, not shunned. I’m saying we need to stop pigeonholing everybody.

Why?

Because we risk becoming a world of automatons; over-medicated automatons coaxed into behaving within ever-narrowing parameters.

And?

We risk losing our true identity. We’re afraid to stand out, we become me-too-women and yes-men.

True identity’s important to you, uh?

Well, duh… Look, apart from stuff like creativity and expression—which, I think, flow from true identity—don’t you think it’s important for folks to just be themselves?

Well, I suppose..

And how are people going to feel comfortable about being themselves if we go around suppressing individuality?

What do you suggest then? Wear yellow socks? Do head-stands at the bus stop?

Hey, if that’s who you are, go for it. But there’s more to it than that. The point is, don’t be afraid to explore and demonstrate your uniqueness. Celebrate your individuality and let the world know what you stand for.

I’m not sure about all that, it sounds kinda weird

That’s it! Exactly it! Let’s all pronounce our individual weirdness, let’s advertise our non-normalcy. So what if I like honey in my coffee? Not normal to you? It is to me. So what if I like sitting with a group of  people, just listening to the conversation, hardly saying a word. That abnormal to you? Sue me. I like accordion music too. You don’t? Which of us is normal (or not)?

OK, OK, take it easy, er, hang on a sec…. Hello? Security? Can I get some backup down here?

Espousing my personal tastes isn’t enough of a gesture though… I know. Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll make a list of my individual beliefs. Just put them out there, tell everyone what it is that defines me. Screw it if you think I’m weird. Better yet, I’ll celebrate the fact you think I’m weird. And, even better than that, I’ll encourage all of you to express your weirdness.

Uh, what’s that you say? Where exactly will you be making this list?

Watch this space.

Kinda figured that

Listen, I gotta go. And no offence, but you won’t be showing up too often will you? It’s just that I kinda like working solo.

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By the way, I’m messing about with fonts and was hoping to get comments about the fonts used on this post. So, waddya think? Too big? Too small? Or Goldilocks-right?

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  • Tags [Happiness, Perception]
  • Categories [About the Book]