Tuesday, August 30, 2005

A bit too ....normal

I spend a lot of energy deluding myself into thinking I am eccentric. Or trying to be eccentric. Or actually being eccentric. Which gets me wondering about eccentricity in general. The term itself implies some mysterious "norm" against which one is being measured and found to be...beyond merely "a little wierd", but not so far out as "whacked" (hope I used that right, I mix up my slang words a lot - for example I once said "snow job" instead of... well, you get the idea).

My smallish soap box right now is that normalcy is a myth. Yawn, you say. Well, okay so that wasn't the most original idea in the world. But just think about how much time people spend trying to prove they're normal: the mindless conforming to imaginary societal rules - grow up, go to school, get a job, buy a place, buy a bigger place, buy another place, buy a newer car, get a more lucrative job, find a spouse, have kid(s), stay thin, be well-adjusted... need I go on? And all the while, most people are nowhere close to any of these things, and are feeling miserable because of it. To top it all off, everyone colludes to pretend they ARE close to achieving normalcy. I'd call that whacked, not normal.

Then there's Moi (you knew this was coming). I decided to toss out the whole concept of normal. Or more accurately, the concept eroded as time went on. Anyway, the short story is that I now try to define normal as whatever works within the bounds of law and human decency. So now I'm mostly eccentric, with remnants of normalcy clinging to me in odd places. Kind of like a moulting mountain sheep (if you've ever seen one).

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

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3:54 p.m.  
Blogger Sarah Elaine said...

I think eccentricity is a delightful thing! Having a British heritage AND being immersed in academia, of course I would though, wouldn't I?

And if you are eccentric, you are most certainly also charming. As a combination, they are delightful... as are you.

Long live eccentricity!

3:57 p.m.  
Blogger Bast said...

Welcome to the blogosphere! Ah, normalcy...kind of like coming from a functional family, eh? We must fight the good fight (?) and continue to try and be abnormal, or the new normal, or ... well, you get it.

10:58 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

All the quality people in life are weird. (that's like Murphy's older sister's law)

3:49 p.m.  

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