Needless to say this is not a normal sight for me. Nor is driving on the left-side, seeing burka clad women, or yak-drawn carts on the road. Yet Zanzibarians see these as regularly as I would a yellow cab in New York. It is THEIR NORMAL.
I like to think of myself as a fairly cultured and tolerant person... Being in this very abnormal environment tested that hypothesis.
I saw this scene play out dozens of times in NYC. A man, obviously foreign and struggling with understanding, tries to rent a car and navigate his way through the streets of Manhattan. He looks horrified as if everyone in the city could be out to get him. He is going to get scammed into venturing into a part of town he shouldn't, and suddenly out of nowhere everyone will take him for everything he's worth.
This sounds ridiculous from our perspective. We can be in the exact same situation and just because the faces and places are normal to us, there isn't an ounce of fear in us.
Today, I was the horrified foreign guy. I looked different from everyone else, couldn't understand their conversations, and was sure that the mob was out to get me. I can't tell you the last time that I was that scared for my safety. Yet the locals did nothing to cause my irrationality. The foreign, THE ABSENCE OF NORMAL, was the reason.
As I had successfully navigated my way out of the city, and the mob, and got out into wild open road I was still a little shaken up. I needed something normal. As I turned on the radio, what did I hear but YOLO playing.
Ahhhhh the pacifying effects of normalness (or Drake's silky smooth flows, you choose)
I suppose there are a few lessons here. First, try to find your normal in whatever situation you find yourself - you will be much better off.
Secondly, and more importantly, realize that there is no universal normal. In my travels I have found that the more I can experience other peoples' normals, and remember that my normal isn't normal to them, the less abnormal they are.
Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment