Why do we have to normalize everything?

I am kind of fascinated by the words that come and go in the popular writing and speaking and Facebook status updating that we do. It’s fun, the following of current language. I’m usually a step behind the kewl kids, lol-ing at the words the rest of the world has already relegated to the garbage pile of last month’s language phase.

Every once in a while, though, a language trend pops up that gets under my skin and makes me itch just a bit.

The normalize trend is one of those. Scratch, scratch.

Everyone seems to want to normalize everything, from political positions to cultural positions to sexual positions.

And what we mean when we talk about normalizing, really, is that I want you to think the same as me about whatever the position is.

While I get the passion behind some of the current normalizing campaigns, I wonder at the loss of wonder such in-your-face promotion, well, promotes. I’ve never been one to fall in love with something because I was beat over the head with it.

There are things I care about. Deeply care about. I live my life and am with my family in certain ways, and in the being and living is included a bunch of stuff like education choices and discipline choices and housing choices and spiritual choices  and even personal satisfaction choices. Some of these ways of being and living have evolved over the years; some of these ways of being and living are the result of my own upbringing; some of these ways of being and living have been influenced by self-education or relationships.

But I don’t feel the need to normalize any of them. I don’t feel the need to normalize homeschooling (or whatever word you want to call it), or rural life, or so-called simple living. I’ll talk about and write about what I think and believe or am wondering about, but I don’t expect everyone to think the same or accept the same choices as I think or accept.

Here’s what I think we should normalize. Let’s normalize unconditional love and generosity and being sweet to each other.

I’m going to try that today. Join me?

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