The New Normal

Normal is conforming to a standard; usual, typical, traditional, or expected.

New Normal is a term that has been used in a variety of contexts to imply that something which was previously abnormal has become commonplace. It has been described as a cliché (a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought).

When a person’s blood is analyzed, that analysis determines whether the organs and systems of that person are or are not functioning normally. If the test results fall within a preset range of values, which determines normal function, then that person is considered to be in good health. Now if, in some instances, the test results fall outside those expected ranges then an abnormal function is diagnosed and the person is not considered to be in good health. This circumstance is not simply labeled a new normal, but, rather, an abnormal condition of the pre-determined accepted norm. To accept it as a new normal and go blindly on your way will, with great certainty, lead to a potential dangerous health issue down the road if no effort is made to return to normal.

As a polio victim, at age four, it was not imposed upon me that this life changing situation was a new normal. For polio ushered in the abnormal. To walk again, in time, I would need years of intense physical therapy and eventually be fitted for leg braces and crutches. A return to the normal was attempted with all the medical knowledge and tools available at the time. But, even at age four, I did not accept this as a new normal. That label was not even in existence then. If it were I may have embraced the handicap and not been motivated to strive for a return to normal. The new normal, if accepted, would have encouraged  complacency toward any inclination or inspiration in the field of teaching and coaching that I would eventually excel in. Acceptance of circumstances in the name of the new normal would have smothered the necessary characteristics that drive one to fulfilling purpose. And one’s purpose fulfilled is the requisite of a complete life. Whether that purpose impels the development of life saving Salk and Sabin Polio vaccines, lands one on the moon, provides comfort to the poor, or hope to the struggling soul.

“Another fine mess,” is a line often heard used in a Laurel and Hardy comedy film. Laurel seems always the scapegoat of Hardy’s bad fortunes and hilarious mishaps. A new normal always follows an era of, primarily, political error. And it is then that we find ourselves mired in another fine mess. Insatiable greed and self-indulgence, unbridled ego, or uncontrolled lust for ideological power creates a circumstantial change in environment that initiates its growth beyond control, providing sustainable capital for the new normal agenda. When that growth becomes so well rooted, ignoring completely the proven standard of a particular societal practice, we have reached a perceived point of no return. When it appears that  there is no way out, and since we have lost the humility to admit that we can be wrong nor retained the stomach to do the needed hard work to return to the norm, we throw our hands up in surrender and acquiesce by labeling the deep well we find ourselves in as the new normal. These fine messes/ new normals are the cause of financial collapse, decaying moral standards, destruction of the family unit, division among Peoples and, worst of all, compromising the free consciences of men and women through confusion or force. And from it no institution is spared. Not marriage; not government; not Church.

Christ entered this world and consented to take on another fine mess. His divine mission was to free us from sin, born of disobedience, which had initiated the new normal movement. He turned an abnormal world upside down to turn it right side up(G.K. Chesterton). By reintroducing the divine moral standard, mobilized through objective truth and conserved by a balance of love and compassion, Christ again placed on an even footing with God all those who choose to believe. And in so doing, restores the Creator/creature love relationship. Reconciliation is then achieved. His purpose is fulfilled. His life’s mission is complete. And with that our salvation assured.

As can clearly be seen, the new normal is nothing more than the abnormal; which is blindly accepted by the masses, who have been duped so by the ego-driven, who, themselves, have no credible argument against nor tolerance for the truth.