The term “strange” & “abnormal” are common words that have been frequently apportioned to my actions and thoughts. I struggle with society’s proclamation of “we have always done it this way” and “this is normal”. It would seem the word “normal” is interchangeable with the word “irresponsible” (and can also be exchanged with the word “stupid”). Check out the following phrases and see if you agree.
- It is normal to do a big shop once a week and throw out the food that is rotting in your fridge from your last shop because you didn’t feel like eating it / don’t like eating stale food.
- It is normal to buy “stuff” in packaging & put the packaging in the bin, knowing that it will end up in a landfill.
- It is normal to try to recycle everything, knowing that we have too much waste and thus our councils need to ship it off to other countries to process on our behalf. And if you’ve been watching my blog you will know that our plastic recycling rates are pathetically low in every country.
Also being “normal” seems to mean you can apportion blame to another entity:
- It is normal to create lots of waste. It is the government’s responsibility to process our rubbish.
- It is normal to throw our trash on the floor in running events. It is the organisation’s responsibility to clean it up after. It doesn’t matter that people slip on cups, have gel packets stuck to the bottom of their shoe, have to run through the trash runners drop on the floor.
Last one to try: of the three images below which is normal?
So today’s understanding of the term “normal” just seems to be a way to masquerade our inability to be responsible and a disconnect to care about the environment that provides us life. So in today’s world, the next time someone calls you strange or abnormal, take it as a compliment 🙂 and let’s look forward to making abnormal, normal because today’s normal is certainly irresponsible.
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