Why does society place such a premium on the normalcy of people’s lives? This extreme movement away from anything considered typical is a horrifying jump for those who are unsure of their place in society. But the greater question is why should it be? This outdated ideal has dictated every aspect of communities to the breaking point. The ideal of normalcy is an overrated concept because it ostracizes the “strange,” does not concern the lives of others, and ruins people’s livelihoods.

              For someone dealing with a condition of lifestyle that makes them different from the “average” human being, normalcy is a dreaded concept. For example, a person with a mental illness will bend over backwards to suppress that part of themselves as a means not to be bullied or picked on. This could lead to a worsening of their condition or even the root of their mental illness. People feel a need to fit in with their peers; it’s just a part of human nature. But, why can’t an individual “fit in” without severely changing their personality/lifestyle/appearance to do so? Societal norms and their manifestation in the human psyche leads are somehow made to allow people to harass anyone who is unlike them, but people should simply pay no mind to anyone else.

              Society has no place to tell an individual that they are in the wrong for something they cannot control. When there is such hatred and exclusion imbedded within communities, the typicality of individuals seems like the least of their concerns. The lives that people lead should not be dictated by anyone except for the one leading them. A modern example can be seen with the LGBTQIA+ community. Many Christians feel that gay couples should not be able to marry, adopt children, or be together in the first place. However, that is their belief and not the belief of the couple. This need to ostracize gay couples and members of the LGBTQIA+ community is rooted in the idea that heterosexual couples are “normal,” but why should any person of legislation get to rule on who a person is and loves? Ruining a person’s livelihood is not worth any religious agenda.

              A person’s personal intentions should never be placed in interference with another person’s happiness. The extreme ideals of society have driven people to physically and mentally dangerous stages all over some concept of perfection. This could be seen with the underlying fatphobia in society that leads to eating disorders and overall self-image issues. This is something I have struggled with along with many other young women and men. The suffocating pressure to look like the celebrities and models in magazines and on social media can control a person’s entire self-image and confidence. A great deal of eating disorders can be fatal if they go untreated and unrecognized. To put it plainly: society’s expectations and need for normalcy are going further than ruining their lives, to the point killing people.

              Normalcy will be the thing to drag society down. It would not be without great people—Rosa Parks, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Malcolm X—that the world has greatly changed and progressed without typicality. The world needs people who are not “normal” to change it and make it better. The need to destigmatize not fitting an ideal is greater now than it ever has been. This need for normalcy is excluding those who are “atypical”, introducing people to other’s lives they don’t need to be a part of, and destroying lives that are already fragile. It is time to ostracize normalcy.