Just Exactly what is The New Normal?

There are any number of things in the normal world that defy logical answers. Like, why does the smoke from a lit cigarette always flow toward the nonsmoker? Or why do people with a grade twelve education at best, think they’re smarter than medical experts? It boggles the mind.

I can’t help wondering then what the fascination is with a so-called ‘New Normal’. It would seem to me anyway, we’ve butchered the old one so badly, a new normal would be a welcome diversion, especially as we prepare to say good riddens to 2020.

“Not so fast”, you say. “We prefer the way things have always been done.”

Aversion to change is a basic trait of human nature. We go to sleep at night completely forgetting that the earth still spins, and while we remain cocooned, other people are awake and moving and affecting our perception of normal. We rise to see the goings-on in our slumbering absence, only to poo-poo them as unfortunate circumstances. We can deal with the news of our outside world so long as we aren’t personally troubled.

But, the events that go on outside of our influence are normal occurrences in the lives being directly affected. These people can’t wait for a new normal to appear. ‘New Normal’ for them is like an oasis in the desert, and for far too long it has been merely a mirage.

New normal, or the old one for that matter, simply does not exist because…

“The only constant in life is change” — Heraclitus

The quicker we learn to embrace change, the better off we’ll all be. Ah, but there’s the rub. Upsetting the status quo is not a welcome change for a selected few. Change means loss of control. Changing “The way we have always done things” becomes a harbinger for unrest.

Controlling the winds of change has been the great undertaking of elites and power-seekers for centuries. We who live in comfort and yes, privilege, experience a trained complacency that has been programmed into us since birth. We accept the teachings from on high, of a hierarchy that assures us a certain way of life if we just toe the line. Human consciousness has evolved to the point where change is the disease, the virus.

Funny then that a real virus of pandemic proportions has become the catalyst for change to ‘The New Normal’. Employers and community leaders spin new ways to convince us that getting back to a good day’s work is… ’Normal’. The pandemic everyone is worried about “will just go away”, some say. Meanwhile, profits will be restored to their rightful places and we can carry with our daily diversions. Our economies certainly need rebooting. Many savvy retailers and service industry leaders have gone to extraordinary lengths in the name of public safety. Life throws curveballs and we learn to adjust.

That’s how normal works, but something seems very different now. The trust factor has eroded. The ‘American Dream’ seems dead on its feet.

The ‘new normal’ suddenly got a kick in the teeth in Minnesota, in Wisconson, even here in our own neighbourhoods. Soon the entire planet woke up to a change that was gathering steam.

People who were told to believe in returning to their jobs as normal were suddenly being berated for gathering together in public protest. Quelling the banter of protest became the new focus for the pandemic.

So, which is it ‘New Normalites’? Who are we protecting, and from what?

If the slogans and the chants of protest make you uncomfortable, that’s good. Count me in for the changes about to come. Too few of us have had it too good for too long. Yep, that means me too. A return to complacency is a return to inequality.

I don’t see that happening anymore, do you?

‘Normal’ in any sense, demands more equity. Now that long-silenced voices are finally being heard, this ‘new normal’ has to be better than the old one, as long as more of us own it.

Which is precisely the point. Ownership of ‘normal’ is constantly shifting. Fail to engage with it at your own peril.

May 2021 bring a thoughtful perspective and renewed dialogue for better times ahead. That would be a nice change, wouldn't it?

This story originally appeared on Medium by Stuart Englander

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