Yearning for Normal. What is Normal?

Finding normal in abnormal times

Sitting at his desk and listening to the news, this old man allows his mind to wander. The sky outside the French doors is a dark gray, heavily overcast, clouds gently covering the mountain tops, a reminder these are the Smoky Mountains. A light rain falls as winds gust from all directions. His thoughts focus on the cold as winter settles into these mountains.

The ground, a canvas of color, is littered with leaves of every fall color imaginable. Wet, they remain glued to the ground. Decades-old trees … elms, maples, oak, and pine … bend and sway in the wind.

His wandering mind shifts its focus again, as he wonders where the future, his and his country’s, is headed. He worries for his kids and grandkids who seem impervious to what is happening around them.

Can the direction of nature’s wind, as it continues to shift directions, leaves swirling every which way, be determined by simply watching? No. This is an impossibility. Nor may the direction of the future be determined by just watching.

Then what is the direction of our country, as citizens shift positions to align themselves for or against a government, that itself continues to swirl in multiple directions? Can this be determined by watching? No.

Thoughts form and then fall away in the confusion. Shaking his head, he is exceedingly aware none of this is normal. We are no longer in ‘normal times’. There is too much confusion.

Politics are no longer normal

Some Americans today are embracing this confusion, calling to take up arms against their fellow Americans. They call this patriotism. But these are not patriotic Americans. They are the misguided Americans who have allowed themselves to be led down a path of hatred and violence by those who lie and deceive with one purpose: to maintain their positions and power.

These citizens who call for civil war support treason in the name of patriotism, as do their enablers in Congress, in the right-wing media, and within local government. Mistakenly, they believe they are patriotic Americans. They are not.

Even today, listening to the news in the background as he sits gazing out the window, the old man listens as the Republican Party holds a hearing to kick out of office one of their party members. They point to his 21 criminal indictments as the reason.

They do so while publicly supporting a former President with 91 criminal indictments against him, a man who daily threatens those who oppose him, and who brags he will declare martial law, put in prison all who oppose him, and build concentration camps to hold them.

The old man knows this is no longer normal. It has a name: fascism. He knows the name. His grandfather and his father fought in wars to end fascism.

Why are we here?

Hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of Americans across the country are forced to live in tents on the streets, and under bridges. These people are families, disabled military veterans, the poor, the sick and the mentally ill, all of whom have reached such a level of despair that they have given up.

An apartment that might rent 20 years ago for $800 a month, now rents for $1800 a month, or more. A house that cost $130,000 10 years ago now costs $350,000. The ability to live what was once considered a normal life is now unaffordable for millions.

There is nowhere for them to turn. The normal ‘middle-class’ life of our parents is out of reach for millions. This should never be normal, he thinks, but it is.

While many more Americans have been able to find work, they work at wages that haven’t improved in 30–40 years. This has led to the disappearance of the middle class. It no longer exists.

The ‘American Dream’ is not to live in your car, or a tent, in a box under a bridge, or whatever can be found. Homes, autos, healthcare, insurance, and food are not affordable for millions of Americans.

What is normal then?

“Whatever happened to normal times, normal as things being the way they were?” The old man ponders these thoughts. “Just what is normal?”

Our lives in America have become so divisive that today everything seems to be boiled down to politics and a political party. People are scared and many won’t admit it.

When a majority of politicians willingly lie to their constituents for the sole purpose of retaining their positions of power, while disregarding facts and the truth, we are no longer in normal times.

Citizens have been fed so many lies by politicians and the media “truth” is something many believe no longer exists. Truth is today blurred by massive campaigns of lies, from politicians and the media.

People seek answers to high inflation, open borders, the lack of healthcare, the millions of homeless sleeping on city streets, and so much more. Yet nobody has common sense answers to share.

Claims of inflation, widespread across the country, exemplify the onslaught of lies and misinformation fed to the public by politicians through an unquestioning media.

The term inflation is bandied about at a time when “corporate America” is reaping historically record profits in multiple areas (gas, oil, power, building materials, groceries, and more) every quarter.

Lies and misinformation are seemingly the new normal.

Inflation: What no one is telling you

Inflation exists when prices for goods climb, the result of companies absorbing higher costs for goods and materials. This existed during and right after the pandemic but is not the case now.

When prices for goods steadily rise as companies reap record-high profits, this is not inflation. It’s price gouging. Wondering why nobody in the media mentions this, why not one politician mentions this, causes the old man to just shake his head in bewilderment. This is common sense, he thinks. Or it should be.

The cycle of feeding misinformation

We face adversity on multiple fronts, stemming in part from years of lies, misunderstandings, and our failure to address them. Americans have stopped searching for knowledge, instead settling for quick and easy answers … sound bytes from media, social media, and politicians.

Today’s self-anointed journalists are as much to blame as are politicians. They often hear something, regurgitate it, and then discover later the information is incorrect. Investigative journalists no longer investigate.

With social media, misinformation spreads like wildfire, and then the damage is done. There are no do-overs. Social media has taken ‘normal’ by the collar and thrown it out the door.

Politicians and journalists who continue to push their agendas sidestepping facts and truth, using social media to illuminate their agendas of spreading misinformation, must be countered with facts and truth.

As a people and a country, we need to remember our history and where we come from. We must redefine today’s ‘normal’, both in our lives and in politics. The country needs re-direction in considering what is right and wrong. For too long, those lines have been blurred by lies that spread misinformation. We need clarity.

Where did we go wrong? When did so many in the country start believing that the reams of misinformation, fed to the public through social media, are fact? Do we need to relearn the differences between wrong and right, truth and lies?

The old man just shakes his head. It’s raining again, but warm. There will be no snow tonight, he assures himself.

As he relaxes in his leather desk chair and gazes out over a gloomy, wet, and warm winter afternoon, a thought equally gloomy occurs to him … that educating, and re-educating, millions of people may take a while.

The old man just shakes his head.