What is "Normal"?

For a continuous trait, such as height or weight, a population naturally falls along a normal distribution ( shown in the picture above). Most of us are average with less and less people having the extremes of the trait.

This happens in populations for any observable trait that is continuous. I hypothesize it also occurs in unobservable traits such as energy levels, all types of intelligence, and any binary spectrum (feminine to masculine etc)

The entire spectrum is normal, that is as a population it is normal to have this variation.

For many traits one side is seen as desirable and to be strived for while the other side is undesirable and we punish or demean those people who happen to exist there.

This happens, in part, because we can see people “improving” at a trait so we assumed everybody has the ability to move along that spectrum. However our ability to improve falls along its own normal distribution curve with most of us putting in medium effort and getting medium results while comparing ourselves to the exceptions who put in minimal effort and get maximum results and while simultaneously looking down on those who put in maximum effort and get minimal results.

Those in the green are looked at as exceptional human beings instead of just being lucky and those in the red are seen as deficient or lazy instead of just being unlucky.

Although not equal in the trait itself or the ability to improve in the trait we are all equal in our worthiness.

Every person along every spectrum is worthy. No single person more worthy than another.

We can never really know where on an unobservable spectrum we exist. we might know how much effort we put in and how much results we got from that effort but we can not know how we compare to others.

Let's say you want to learn Spanish so you put in an hour a day and become fairly fluent within a year. You see other people, some are better at Spanish than you are and some are worse but we do not know how much effort they put in to get there. We assume the person who's worse at Spanish put in less time and effort than we did and the person who is better at Spanish put in more time and effort but that is not necessarily true. The person who struggles with Spanish might be practicing 4 to 5 hours a day and just not getting it while the other person may just have a brain for language and never even feels like they're practicing but is just able to pick it up with ease. Who is the best human in this scenario? We can probably say who is best at Spanish with a test but we cannot say much more than that.

What is normal is that there is no normal. For any given task there are people for whom it is nearly impossible and others for whom it is easy. For example climbing Mount Everest is seen as a nearly insurmountable task for most humans and most humans will not attempted it in their lifetime but for the Sherpas that guide others up the mountain it is just another day at work their bodies and talents are designed so that a task that is nearly impossible for 95% of humanity is by comparison easy for them. On the flip side a simple task like making a phone call or cooking dinner are easy for most of us but for some people it is their Everest.

We only have 1 window from which to see this world but together we form the panoramic view we need to solve the problems on this planet. Many of the interpersonal problems arise because we are arguing about what each person sees out their own window because we forget it is not the same as ours.

Many traits we don't even know are on a spectrum in order to allow for this inherent human diversity within a population. We may be aware of the extremes those we label as disabled or exceptional but we forget that we all exist along every single spectrum.

One societal example of this is our work week. 40 hours is standard and normal yet some people are able to work 50-70 hours and thrive while other people struggle to meet this commitment and other areas of their life pay the price . The optimal work week for any single person can be anywhere from zero to 168 (If someone is working and paid 24/7).

Most people feel tired at the end of the work day and we have come to accept it and even require it but how tired is everyone? How does your tiredness compare to everybody else’s. Do you have the energy to go to the gym, meet a friend for coffee, read a book, or fulfill other goals? Having one metric (40hr work week) and expecting everyone to meet it is unfair as we all have varying abilities to actually meet it and we have no idea where we or anybody else fits along this spectrum.

Society is set up for a 40 Hour work week. If a living wage in your city is $40,000 per year you need to make about $20/hr and work fulltime to afford adequate food, shelter and activity. If you only make $10/hr you need to work a 80 hour work week to live adequately. If you are able to work more than 40 hours or have a skill which people will pay high for you can make much more than $40,000. Many people do not have the health, education or circumstances to be able to work 40 hours OR to make at least $20/hr. Yet we treat THEM and not SOCIETY as deficient.

We have different energy levels, different personal care needs, different commitments different abilities.

Our current society is set up for only a small fraction of humanity and it is designed to penalize the rest. We can create a society that works for our diversity. Our diversity, THIS diversity is our strength. When we stop penalizing people and start giving them the individual tools they need to thrive, we all benefit.