COLUMN: Normal? What’s that?

A friend once said, “Normal is just a setting on the dryer.” The same phrase recently popped up as a Facebook meme looked like a 1950s cartoon. I couldn’t pass up the temptation to buy a Raygun t-shirt that simply says, “This is not Normal.” What is normal anymore? I’m not certain we’ve experienced it for about 10 years!

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a pandemic, weather, politics, world events, troops in cities, treatment of immigrants, challenges to civil rights, the judicial system or political overreach. We’re bombarded with situations that “hasn’t been seen before.” That’s partially true, but there are some that look alarmingly similar history preceding WWII.

We had a pandemic killing 1.2 million Americans, including friends and relatives, and leaving others impacted by long COVID. A vaccine was developed that many did not trust. I’ve taken every shot available to me and I didn’t get COVID. I trust vaccinations.

Weather events seem abnormal. Last year produced the most tornadoes EVER in Iowa — 125. Iowa’s average moisture in 2010 was 44.32” and in 2024 it was 34”. Last year was globally the hottest year on record. Iowa’s average winter temperature in 2024 was 30.7 degrees, 7.8 degrees above normal. We’ve learned about derechos and the destruction they can cause. Hurricanes are more frequent and severe. Flooding and drought patterns have changed. Wild fires in Canada create hazy conditions over the entire Midwest. My lilacs bloomed in the spring and fall in 2023 and 2024. None of this is normal.

January 6, 2021, our capitol was ransacked and vilified by mobs. Five officers died and over 140 were injured. President Trump waited hours before activating the National Guard while House and Senate members and the vice president were hiding. The president stated it was a lovefest and denied validity of the election. Any who watched it would disagree. Not a normal reaction to elections.

Last week National Guard and Marine troops were deployed to the streets of Los Angles outnumbering the protesters. President Trump deployed them without the request of the California governor or LA mayor. The normal process was ignored.

About 2300 “No Kings” protests happened June 14 juxtapositioned to a military parade in Washington, D.C. Actual attendance at events is still being determined. Estimates for Washington, D.C. were 10,000, to as high as 250,000 depending upon the information source. The “No Kings” protests peacefully generated 13.4 million participants in cities, towns and villages. Allegations were made that participants in the protests were paid. Trust me. Organizers did not get paid. It was volunteers who do love this country.

The Pennsylvania governor’s home was set on fire. Two Israeli Embassy workers were gunned down in Washington, D.C. Protesters in Colorado were set on fire. Minnesota state legislators and their spouses were shot in their homes resulting in the death of one legislator and her spouse and the other and his spouse are recovering. The shooter had a hit list, multiple guns and was arrested.

A federal judge has been arrested and others threatened for decisions against the current president. A sitting congresswoman accused of physically resisting an officer was indicted for seeking entry to a facility for detaining immigrants. A serving U.S. senator was taken to the ground and handcuffed for asking a question of the secretary of Homeland Security.

Masked ICE agents refusing to provide identification appeared in many states to pick up workers from worksites. Immigrants disappear into buses without being offered the right of due process. U.S.-born children of immigrants have been deported without the ability to seek legal advice. How is this not kidnapping? This is not normal.

The Constitution guarantees rights regardless of citizenship or ethnic background. The U.S. has dark times in our history when citizens of Asian descent were interred in camps, Klansman terrorized African Americans, Joe McCarthy pushed the communist scare, white Christian nationalists push fear of the LGBTQ community.

Normal. What’s that? Remaining silent out of fear is not an option. People under 30 don’t remember any president before Trump. They have lived much of their life with “a world turned upside down,” found in the lyrics of the musical “Hamilton.” It’s time to pay attention. Step up. Speak out. Chaos cannot be the new normal.