It is called a norm

michael.asciak@parlament.mt

Ihad an inkling of what might happen when visiting relatives in the USA and Canada last summer, many of whom pointed out the wide support that he enjoyed in the country and the small towns as opposed to the cities.

This was particularly so in the mid-western states, of which many of us have very little experience and exposure to. There could be many reasons for this unexpected victory but there is one which I call the norm, a rule; a rule that people often give one politician or particular party up to two electoral mandates, very rarely more!

Now this is not a hard and fast rule; it is a general rule that even in the best of circumstances people often want a change after two terms. There are exceptions to this of course, even in the USA. Franklin D. Roosevelt, who my great aunt in New York was ever so ironically fond of, was elected for a whopping four mandates, while Jimmy Carter was only a one-term President, but having said everything, there is this norm!

Many years ago I was diagnosed with a condition called asthma which was visited on me rather suddenly, and though people tried to console me with the fact that many others had the same condition and that it was perfectly treatable, it was nonetheless not the norm.

Now other conditions are knocking at my door, conditions that though quite common, are not the norm either, as the great majority of people do not have these conditions. Just as there are physical human conditions, there are emotional ones such as anxiety and depression and there are also conditions that affect human sexuality.

All of these conditions are not the fault of the individual on whom they are foisted, whether the cause is genetic or nurtural (epigenetic). Nature is untidy and lets us shoulder several of these untidy conditions. Nevertheless one treats people with all these untidy conditions with all the care and love that exists and one includes them in the life of society as much as is reasonably possible; after all nobody is at fault here and everybody should be treated with the respect due to the dignity of a human being.

We are all born with issues that are outside the norm, nonetheless we are all human beings, all children of the universe (or God, as you wish). Much as I wanted to do subaqua diving, I had to abandon the idea because of my condition. It did not fit the norms required for the sport as there was a required rule!

I understand the great stress undergone by individual humans with sexual orientation issues of whatever colour. I meet them every day at work and I admire a society that allows the integration of these individuals with tolerance and respect. Like all people with particular conditions, they should all be supported and their life choices respected as they struggle to understand what the universe (or God, as you wish) requires of them. There is however a norm, the exceptions to which prove the rule.

Man and women have always existed as a separate gender, still exist and will continue to exist. The universal norm in the world is a gender-based one. Nothing that we say or do will change this norm, even if we pretend that it does not exist.

It would be folly to think that one can freely choose his or her gender at will, because the norm is established. One can help individuals come to terms with issues and help them integrate unobtrusively into society through corrective measures or drugs; one respects the space these people occupy but gender itself is not a choice we can make.

I say this because one of the biggest dangers to society at present is that some are trying to pretend that gender does not exist and is a free choice of individuals according to simple emotions. One of society’s biggest falls would occur if it accepts this so-called gender theory, because it turns on its head what is so manifestly evident to everyone. There is a gender difference in human society and it is the norm!