WHAT IS NORMALITY?

Although many scholars are still trying to give an answer to this question, I think I have found the answer: normality is more a personal concept as each of us looks at things from our own perspective and, in this regard, I will say that, in my opinion, normality is exchanging notes with school mates, taking pictures while we’re hugging with friends, going to a pizzeria or traveling around the world. But this was my normality before the covid-19, a virus that is making us live in an abnormal world where it is not even allowed to hug a friend or go out  for a coffee at the bar.

 What is normality for me today, 23 December 2020? Today I agree with those scholars in saying that normality does not have a precise definition because it changes from day to day, what is normal today may not be tomorrow and this is what happened to the whole world.

My normality changed the day in which the Italian government imposed the quarantine, a period of time in which it was necessary to stay at home to avoid danger but… What are dangers? Today, unfortunately, they’re the people around us so classmates, friends, family and ourselves because we could be a danger in turn without being aware of it because the covid-19 is a silent evil that affects everyone suddenly, an evil that is making us live in a science-fiction nightmare, in a parallel reality that seems to trap us, a dimension with no escape route, where fear and worry are the order of the day.

And what is normality in this chaos? Going out with a mask, keeping distance even with people you love and using a liter of disinfectant every day? And if during the quarantine I felt like trapped in a prison, now it’s as if I can’t wait to go back just so as not to be a danger to me or to others … this abnormality has also touched maybe the best celebration of the year that in 2020 is going to be different because it won’t be spent with our relatives, because it will be not the usual kisses and hugs exchanged at  midnight of the 24th, because the entire Italy is on “red zone” so no one can go home for Christmas Holiday if they’re far from his city.

But in all this negative things, we could just think that this year we can do something different, we can rediscover the magic of Christmas making homemade gifts, cooking tasty dishes and cakes, playing cards in videocall with our friends and relatives … doing a lot of thing that technology and our chaotic lives have deleted from our mind, but above all from our hearts. We should just think that we are lucky to be here because this year has been difficult for everyone, but we have the possibility to pray, to hope and hope again that after this strange year we will be all together again discovering how beautiful iti s seeing a simple smile from the people you love, how beautiful was the ‘normality’ that we have complained about in the past years and that now we want with all our heart.