‘Normal’ depends on your environment essay sample

Normality is an optimal property of things that is treated as an ideal balance between too good and too bad qualities. People frequently use the adjective “normal” to imply that an object or action is commonly accepted as positive. Consequently, people express their approval using this tricky term. The same as in the case with moral values, different people consider different things being normal. Normality greatly depends on social and cultural background, traditions accepted by communities, their usual perception of the outer world.

Needless to say, tourists going abroad for vacations are perfectly aware of certain differences in social and cultural standards. People anticipate that their way of doing things in a normal way can be utterly shocking to a local population. Therefore, tourists usually make a little research on the culture of their destination to look more normal in the eyes of local people.

Different customs can be found not only overseas but even within a single culture. Thus, religious people usually stand out of the remaining community with their beliefs and approaches. A shared living without getting married may seem perfectly normal to an average middle-aged American while it can be blatant to a person of a religious background.

In the multicultural society, every minor detail may seem weird to a strange person. Take education, for example. Asian and European parents prefer different parenting styles that make children look at their daily routine from different perspectives. For Asian Americans, it is normal to be close and obeying with their parents, while Caucasian Americans treat parents rather like tutors or partners.