Is Back to Normal Good? After the COVID-19 crisis, many look forward to life returning to normal. But what will the “new normal” look like, and is this a good thing? Yes! And, No!
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ormal is an odd word, the way we tend to use it. It implies that normal is good, and abnormal is bad. So “returning to normal,” we assume, is naturally a good thing. But normal can be a value-neutral word. By definition, it refers to what is usual, typical, common or expected. It is the average or typical state or condition, without regard to whether that condition is good or bad.
Will we ever go back to normal?
For the long months we lived in the shadow of COVID-19, wearing a mask and social distancing was
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DISCERN
normal practice in public. As we look to emerge from pandemic-enforced protocols, we look forward to returning to what was normal before March 2020. But the pandemic has changed things—and some of those changes will continue even after we stop wearing masks. And other things not directly related to the pandemic have changed—some quite dramatically. During the pandemic, society has been evolving, so when we “return to normal,” it won’t be the same normal as before. Will that be good or bad? The way we interact socially has been affected. Business and education have been
July/August 2021
