How normal is “new normal”?

By Modesto P. Sa-onoy

By the time this column comes out maybe the government shall have announced new guidelines or protocol whether the restrictions imposed on the people shall have been renewed, revised, downgraded, or modified but surely not lifted to return to normal life. A lot of people are talking about “new normal” when describing what it would be once all the restrictions are lifted.

“Normal” comes from the Latin word “norma” which means the “rule” of conduct prescribed to which people must conform to whatever was mandated. In a free society we decide which behavior or conduct is acceptable and which is prohibited, the purpose of which is to ensure the environment of peace and order and the safeguarding of the rights of others.

The “new normal” that is being impressed on us is abnormal in the sense that they are not what people in society should be doing in accord with what is natural or what nature prescribes.

For instance, there is a mind conditioning about social distancing. I believe the right word to describe the unnatural way this is done is “physical distancing”. The word “social” refers to people living together or a situation where they deal closely with one another, like in a family, a church, a club, or business relationships.

The prescribed physical distancing that is paraded as the “new normal” is abnormal because it puts people away from each other. This mentality being imprinted in our minds and which we ought to follow means we have to forgo the kissing of a parent’s hands, the handshake, the beso-beso or “check to check” form of affectionate greeting, of holding hands, of a hug and a pat.

Is it normal for humans to be denied or prohibited this form of social relationships? I believe, however, that no rule can take this basic human affection that is part of our nature as humans.

Or take another one. The government prescribes that passengers in jeeps should not exceed six to put a distance among them. Considering the sizes of these jeeps they cannot be a meter apart. Granting, however is it profitable to ply the route when a jeep has less passengers enough to pay for gas, the driver’s income, and the other costs of operation?

The fact that there are very few jeeps, in our place there are none, shows the bad economics in this rule. The drivers cannot charge more than the tariff prescribed by the LTFRB. There are tricycles but since only one passenger is allowed, the drivers charge P50 for not more than two kilometers.

Let us take the face masks. There are two reasons for their use. One is that the wearer is protected from infection granting that the mask is not a fake and the other is to protect others from the mask wearer. Sounds fine but this should be optional because a mask has other disadvantages. Why do you think robbers and killers wear masks and even a bonnet? Masks hide the face, the window of a personality. Make-ups will be useless, and the society matrons would certainly rebel against it.

Humans are by nature social, they become psychotic in isolation for a long time. They need companionships not from a distance but intimately.  For government to insist on physical distancing is to subvert this basic need for close contact that provide humans with a sense of being a part of a group. Indeed, being in a group gives a person a feeling of worthiness and security. Loneliness is as deadly as the virus.

The “new normal” that should be practiced is not new, rather the revival of the basics that people had forgotten – personal and public hygiene and sanitation that had caused several pandemics in human history. Covid-19 is a “little inconvenience” compared to the bubonic plague, the Spanish flu, the cholera, malaria and even tuberculosis and diabetes. More fetuses are killed each day than the deaths in a month of the present pandemic.

The present practice that should not become normal is the dole out distributed through the local officials that got richer by the reported P1,000 per beneficiary. No wonder many of them want the quarantine extended so public funds can be distributed and they can get their cut.

This has been normal ever since and it would be nice to stop it.