Normalcy

I share a profound disdain for the word "normal". During my twenty-seven years as a human being, I've learned that I must be "normal" if I wish to get anywhere in this game called life. I've learned if I'm not "normal", then I'm not to be trusted nor loved. It's a shame, for I want nothing to do with being "normal".

Belittling and fighting my peers is "normal".

Paying exorbitant amounts of money on the latest in fashion and popular music because television and my peers tell me so is "normal".

Drinking savagely until I vomit, then waking up with a blinding hangover in the name of socializing is "normal".

Treating women as nothing more than objects in which to insert my penis is "normal".

Spending the majority of my waking life making money for another while following his rules of etiquette so that I may take home a modest sum for myself to spend on a mortgage, car and other goodies for myself is "normal".

Throwing my scratch into an RRSP in the hopes that, perhaps one day, I'll be able to not have to march my strung-out self into the office is "normal".

Griping about my taxes being too high is "normal".

Drowning out my daily sorrows with sitcoms and sports on my television set is "normal".

Gabbing about what I'd like to buy or what other people did in their lives because my own life is too boring is "normal".

Pledging allegiance to my flag is "normal".

Acting as if everything is fine is "normal".

Does this all sound familiar? It is what is expected of each and every one of us, from the moment we learn to stand up straight to the instant our last breath escapes us. We are taught to conform or live life as nothing. We are groomed to participate in this artificial existence and accept it as "normal", and end up spending our entire lives trying to maintain our standing within this "normal" because we are discouraged from being ourselves.

I'm glad there are some of you out there who don't buy into this nonsense: to all of you, I tip my hat, and to the rest, I hope, one day, you'll finally snap out of your trance.