Five years ago, I wrote a piece titled What is Normal? I had recently published a children's book series, The Journals of Thaddeaus Shockpocket, The Journals of Thaddeaus Shockpocket that chronicled the lives of an eccentric turn-of-the-century family of English explorers and how they were labeled as 'not normal' because of their eccentricities.

After writing the stories, it made me wonder what exactly is normal, and why do people judge others based on their own self-held beliefs of normalcy. I wrote a few pieces on normalcy and fitting in and now, five years later, it seems it needs to be addressed again.

First, below is an excerpt from the 2015 blog, What is Normal.

August 23, 2015
What is normal?

I wonder what it is that makes blogs so important or, more to the point, so popular in our current culture. Well, blogs that focus on specific topics like the latest cooking trends are a great source of practical information such as new recipes and ways to prepare dishes that otherwise are simply old and tired. Movie review blogs steer me to pictures that suit my particular interests and book review blogs do similar for my reading selections.

But what about all those other blogs? Those that simply chronicle someone’s activities or their random thoughts on arbitrary topics with no rhyme or reason as to why they chose that subject matter for the day. Why are they so popular? Is it because we are voyeuristic by nature and get some degree of pleasure by sitting at a screen and reading of another person’s activities and thoughts without actually having to interact with them? Or is it that we take comfort in hearing of other people’s misadventures and reading the sordid details of their dysfunctional families and strange proclivities that make our own dysfunctional families and insane thoughts seem almost normal by comparison.

Yes, that must be it. Often are days when I think the other members of my family are certifiably crazy, my own behavior a tich off kilter, and my life a comedy of errors, but then I read blogs and take comfort in the knowledge that my world, while not exactly perfect, is certainly more normal than that of others.

Then again, what is normal? One dictionary defines it as, ‘conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal’. Not abnormal? And what is abnormal defined as? Not normal. Okay, that cinches it. Normal does not mean anything. It is a construct to make people feel a part of a group. A way of identifying and segregating the ‘others’. Behave as we say and you will be deemed normal. Deviate from our standards and you are abnormal. It is really just part of a clan mentality. We find comfort in grouping with others that hold the same interests. Those within a group of similar types are, by definition, normal. But to outsiders, they are probably abnormal.

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When I wrote the above blog, I was thinking about those judged to be different because of their unique personalities or tastes. Or because of learning or physical disabilities.

In fact, people are harassed for pretty much anything. Liking bowling, or dressing up and going to renaissance fairs or comic conventions, or dying their hair, or having tattoos, or not having tattoos.

Growing up, I was teased for being a boy scout, for liking reading books over playing baseball, or hiking over football. Heck, I played the accordion. Unless you are from the Midwest where they like polka music, playing the accordion is the kiss of death to middle school popularity. I grew up in Seattle. Accordions were not cool. Nuff said.

But when I wrote the What is Normal? post five years ago, I didn't fully grasp how I had only touched the tip of the iceberg.

That changed after I completed the Thaddeaus Shockpocket book series and focused writing the adult mystery thriller Alki Point.

Alki Point revolves around a series of tragedies that are triggered by individuals judging others based on lifestyle choices and appearances. The story goes beyond how people every day judge and shame others for being different, and into the world of organized societal attempts to make people conform to what is considered "normal" at any given time, and the lengths those in power have taken to make people conform. These attempts have ranged from public shaming, to reprograming, to making laws that take away the rights of targeted groups, all of the way to psychosurgery to control those deemed "not normal".

It begins with bullying at a young age and progresses to government sanctioned prejudice in adulthood. In recent years, suicides of school age children have become an epidemic. Children are bullied in person and online for anything that is deemed abnormal. And children aren't the only ones. Adults are also victims in social media for being different. And they too are tormented and suffer from anxiety.

Instead of finding what makes an individual unique and how they contribute to the world, society is hell-bent on tearing others down. In my earlier blogs, I hypothesized that this is probably a holdout from our tribal nature in prehistoric times, but that is a weak excuse for the behavior.

Before this turns into a long boring rant, I will get to the point. Defining others as different is not only wrong, it is dangerous. It emboldens people to harm others emotionally and physically in the name of society and even their faith.

Regardless of race, gender selection, faith, weight, physical ability, mental ability, hair color, economic status, nationality, musical taste, food taste, wearing glasses or not, curly or straight or no hair, style of clothing, and so on, nobody should be labeled as not normal.
There is no such thing as normal. Embrace everyone and stop the hate.

If you get a chance, give Alki Point a read. Hopefully it is not only a good mystery, but also a cautionary tale about judgement and its consequences.