Every Time Something Happens, Normal Changes Forever

Do you remember when a loved one was flying to your city for a visit? You would drive to the airport and wait at the gate when they stepped off the plane. If you spent much time in an airport, you saw those joyous reunions at almost every gate. My wife used to travel a lot and more often than not, I would be the first person she saw when she left the jetway.

Nevermore.

Think about this. Someone born on September 12, 2001, will turn 19 years old this year. Grown adults in modern society. Probably frequent flyers. And they will never have a memory of 9/11. And the things that are inconvenient to us are normal to them. People who flew before 1970 remember a time with no scanning at all. The rash of skyjackings in the late ’60s changed that forever.

Skyjacking. There’s a word most people under 50 aren’t familiar with.

The point is, every time something abnormal happens, normal changes.

Forever.

The world has been through pandemics before. A lot of them. But this one is different. The way the world is reacting to it is different. And those reactions, not the pandemic itself, is what will change normal again.

In what way? That remains to be seen.

But some of the things we are doing now, right or wrong, will have a lasting effect on the world going forward. And some will be the new normal.

Hoarding

That’s a big one, and the most unusual. It’s unusual in that it was entirely unnecessary and senseless. No one needed to hoard anything, and the resulting shortages should never have occurred.

But they did.

And as a result, normal will shift a bit. Pantries will always be a bit more stocked than in the past. People won’t buy just one of anything. “Let’s get extra, just in case.” I think the shelf life on food labels will become more prominent. There will be an uptick in the sale of large freezers.

And bidets. No one will ever have less than three cases of toilet paper stored in their homes.

Ever.

Social Distancing

Will this ever completely go away? How long before people stop feeling a little uncomfortable going into someone else’s house? Or letting others into theirs.

“Thanks for coming, it was great seeing you.”

Door closes.

“Get the sanitizer and wipe everything down!”

How long before we stop being uneasy passing someone in the grocery store? Will we ever go to the store again without seeing someone wearing a mask and gloves? I think we will see changes in new and remodeled stores. Wider aisles. More touchless checkout. Plexiglas mounted between the cashier and customers.

Will checkouts soon look like the windows at a pawnshop?

Cash. It’s been going out of favor for decades. This may be the death knell. Carrying around and touching little pieces of paper that have been handle by thousands, if not millions of people. Who does that?

Masks

Everyone will own a few. Managing them will become part of everyday life. “Are you doing laundry today? I want to get the masks done.” They will become fashion accessories. The bedazzled fad will make a comeback. Sites like Redbubble, Etsy, and eBay will see a new growth industry in designer masks.

Some of this won’t be a bad thing. I think in places like doctor’s offices and hospitals, masks will become mandatory for everyone. I don’t know who makes disposable masks, but you should buy some of their stock. Now.

Travel

For the travel industry to recover from this, they will have to make big changes. Normal in travel will change again. Somehow, hordes of people crammed together in small spaces have to end. I can see biometrics on the rise. We need to scan and identify people quickly without the bottleneck it now causes. Just think, if the ID process took 5 seconds instead of 20.

I have no idea how airlines will react. Seats have gotten smaller and people closer together. We all breathe the same air for hours at a time. Air travel has always been dicey health-wise, so a new normal there is not a bad thing.

And cruise ships? Personally, I see little change there. I have taken over 60 cruises and the procedures on cruise ships have always exceeded those everywhere else. Sure, outbreaks occur. But with 4,000 passengers and crew coming together from all over the planet in small spaces; I think the results have been phenomenal. Washing and sanitizing your hands. That was old news ten years ago on cruise ships.

The world changes. Constantly. What we consider normal today would have been considered bizarre by our grandparents. There will be babies born this year into the new normal. How will they view our world? “Mommy, that man touched his face.”

What will that world look like?