Monday 06/08
Sydney/Australia

A normal day...
It was just before 5pm.

I wanted to meet my friend at this café to discuss our school project. We are supposed to plan a word exhibition.
  -Actually, he should already be here...

The door of the café opened and, sure enough, my friend came in.
He looked around briefly before he noticed me. A small smile appeared on his lips and he sat down opposite me.
„Hey mate! How are ya?” he asked.
„Just normal.” I replied.
He nodded and ordered a hot chocolate with cream. Normal. It's what he always orders.

„Have you already thought about the project?”
„Yes, I have already written down a few words that might fit into the exhibition.” I answered. „Bodacious for example. It means great, remarkable, attractive ...” I began to list.
My best friend interrupted me: „I was thinking more of words that are used frequently but are still interesting. For example, normal.”
„Normal?” I asked in surprise.
„Normal!” he replied.
„What's interesting about normal?” I was curious about the answer. But instead of an answer, I only got questions:

„Think about it: what does normal mean to you?”,  he asked me a counter question.
I paused. He was right: What is normal for me? Having breakfast with my family every morning? Meet friends, even have friends?

„If you google 'normal', it says something like 'according to the norm, according to the rules, usual, common, average, sane'. But is that really all it is?
Are you considered a 'normal' person, if you act like the majority of the population? Or if you look like most people? Are you boring if you're normal? Or, are you cool if you behave like others who are perhaps just pretending to fit in?
Are you repulsive if you are different?

Is something normal if it is familiar? Do we still value normal things as much as new ones?
Are there different kinds of 'normal', or is it the same to say 'that is a normal dog', or, 'He/She/It behaves normally?'

Is someone else more normal if they are more like you, since you are the most normal to yourself? Are we actually the most normal person in our own eyes, since we know ourselves better than others know us?
Is there only one normal person in the world, and yet this includes the whole of humanity, since everyone is 'normal' in their own right?”

„I don't know it.”, I admitted somewhat embarrassed. „I used the word without knowing its exact meaning...” I thought out loud.

„Many people talk without understanding. Does that now count as normal and unimportant? Is it normal and unimportant at some point if we only say things that we have picked up somewhere, even though we do not understand them? Is it then normal if anyone no longer explains anything to us?”, my friend asked further.
„Does 'normal' always stay the same or does it change? It used to be normal to wear wigs. Is it still normal today?”

He didn't stop asking questions. And I didn't answer. Not a single one. Why? Because I can't. I couldn't answer any questions because my opinions changed every second.

„We have many words that mean the same thing. But how can such a simple little word describe so many things at the same time and yet somehow only one thing?”

I stared at my untouched glass of cocoa and thought about the words I had just heard from my friend.
It's true! When do we take the time to think about words that are normal for us to use? When do we think about their exact meaning?

„Does the meaning of normal lie in the face of the beholder, or is it always the same?
It is normal for French people to say 'Salut' as a greeting.
For Spanish people it's normal to say '¡Hola!'. -Two different words.
But for both cultures it is normal to greet each other.

For you it is normal to have a dog as a pet, but for me it is normal not to have one.
Do you know what I mean by that?” he asked another question. But this time I was able to answer this question! But he didn't let me.

„For you, one thing is normal, for me something else, and for some stranger something completely different is normal. Nevertheless, all three of us call it, what ever it is, normal. ”
I nodded: Someone calls something the same as I call something that is fundamentally different.

Normal.

Such a (at first glance) simple word made me think so much...
Isn't that crazy?

–

Always consider the meaning before you speak~

Normal is an illusion.
What is normal for the spider
Is chaos for the fly.
-Morticia Addams

-800 Words-

This is my first story! I hope you like it anyway ♡