It’s not normal!
There are phrases that have become part of our lives in recent months. “These are strange times?”, “Unprecedented”, “How many cases?” and “It’s the new normal”, to name a few.
I want the “old normal” back. I’m not even sure what it was but it certainly was better than what’s passing for the new.
I heard a child psychologist on the radio the other day and he took issue with the phrase “The new normal” as well. He said it simply is not normal to be living the way we are now. He fielded questions from listeners, most of them around children’s fears and their reactions to what is going on now and he said that, for children, these are very confusing times and that we need to keep telling the children these are not normal times.
It is not normal for us to be fearful or suspicious of other people. It is not normal for us to stand six feet apart from others and to walk around with our faces masked. It is not normal for us to walk into a shop with our faces covered and it is not normal for us to have to write our names down when visiting a restaurant. It is not normal for us to have, as our main news headline, numbers read out and totals given of people who have become sick or died. It is not normal.
It is not normal to not be able to travel or welcome people who are visiting us. It is not normal when musicians and entertainers cannot perform. It is not normal when families cannot be together to share the joyous and difficult moments of family life.
It is not normal to have our churches practically empty, with seats closed off and people encouraged to be apart in a House that seeks to bring them together. Far from normal, it is sad, heartbreaking and bordering on Soul destroying.
Though it is not normal, there can be no denying it is necessary and we do well to follow guidelines and directives given. At the back of our minds, in the core of our spirits and in the depths of our hearts we must never accept this as a “normal” way of living. Doing all we can, not least through sacrifice and heeding advice, we must work towards better days, more healthy times and freer lifestyles.
Roll on the “old” normality.