I was reading a news article about politics in Germany this weekend, and something a 20-year-old said caught my attention. This young man said, “… but we just want a normal life.” All politics aside, this declaration took me back to when I was 20—yes, a little over 31 years ago for those who want to know.
I started thinking about this and put myself in the place of this young German man. When I was 20—a year or so after I finished my Army basic training and returned to college—it would never have crossed my mind to think, “I just want a normal life.”
But what does “normal life” even mean? Is it a time when I was a baby and my mom took care of all my needs? A time when my world revolved around sleeping, eating, making diaper messes for my mom to handle, and repeating the cycle? Or does normal life mean growing up and facing the challenges of my teen years—trying to be cool with everybody, faking extroversion just to get noticed? Or perhaps normal life refers to my struggles during my first year of college, navigating tough classes while trying to survive with barely anything in my food pantry.
I’m not entirely sure what this young man meant when he said, “…but we just want a normal life.” The article gives some clues, but in my mind, I’m thinking: When I was 20, I wasn’t longing for a “normal life.” Back then, I wanted to be different, challenge the world, and build a meaningful life. I was focused on living purposefully—improving my circumstances, meeting a wonderful woman (which I did), getting married, starting a family, serving my country and others, and guiding my future family toward a better life—better than the one I had. I wasn’t thinking about government or politics because, at 20, thinking about those things didn’t seem to lead anywhere—unless, of course, you were planning a career in politics.
A “normal life”? Personally, I don’t think there’s such a thing. We’re human, and the environment changes daily, so, in my view, nothing about life is truly “normal.” I learned a long time ago from a little book titled “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson that change happens, and you must monitor life, anticipate changes, and adapt quickly in order to continue enjoying life.
A “normal life”? Not for me. I’d rather have a dynamic life—a life that challenges me to be better every day and to step out of my comfort zone occasionally. I want to sense change and adapt to it quickly. I don’t want to sit around complaining about my circumstances. I want to learn from them, work through the problems, and change my circumstances.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, normal means “conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern: characterized by that which is considered usual, typical, or routine.”1 One of the definitions of life is “the sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual.”2
So here’s my attempt to combine these definitions into the meaning of “normal life”:
Normal life is the sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up an individual’s existence, characterized by conformity to what is considered usual, typical, or routine within a given context or society.
Maybe the young German man was referring to a “normal life” from a time when only white people resided in his community, when women were expected to stay home taking care of children while men worked in factories, or when only men had rights and women were mere decorative figures. I’m not exactly sure what he meant by “normal life,” especially since he’s only 20 years old, and as far as I know, none of these scenarios were considered normal in Germany or the rest of Europe in 2005.
So who knows what this young man was really referring to? By the way, his full quote was, “The left calls us Nazis, but we just want a normal life.” One thing I do know for certain—I don’t want a “normal life.”
LatinosUSA 
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