OPINIONS & EDITORIALS » CONNECTIONS

Written by Dolores Bader, 07/08/2010

What runs through your head when you hear the word normal? Do you have set ideas and standards to which the word applies? Is there a normal day? Is there a normal meal or a normal night’s sleep? How about normal weather or a normal work day? "I’ll tell you a secret, I’ll tell you know lie" as the old rhyme goes, I know I am over the hill because I can no longer find a place in my vocabulary for the word normal. It has become a useless group of letters in the world I wake up to each morning. Normal and progressive are not compatible. Normal and off-center are on a collision course. Of course, the real problem is not the word, it is me.

Normal is defined anew by each and every generation. When you give it a little thought it makes sense. It gives permission to move beyond the mistakes of those who precede us and to learn, grow and blossom in new ways. What worked at Plymouth Rock is not necessarily useful today. We can take the useful lessons and adapt them to current conditions or we can start from scratch, raise new standards with sight set on new horizons.

I sat trapped in my car on Main Street during the deluge a week ago today (July 7) and watched the water run like a river over the brick street. My thought was, "Those were smart people back then…this is the soundest street in town, maybe in Black Hawk County."

We need people in this age who think beyond "normal" as we build for a future that is life-enhancing for everyone. Take a look at the plantings along the new Elementary school addition. Normal would be cement to the brick wall. The plants are a sign of richer living, even a teaching tool for toddlers who need to see the value placed on beauty by their elders. Normal is a stepping stone toward extraordinary when it comes to lifestyle.

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