What is 'Normal'?

My wife and I were talking about our choices of friends when we were in school. She used to make friends with the prettier girls in her class in Little Flower School, Imphal. And I believe that she was part of the 'hip' crowd. She is beautiful and also has good tastes in most things and she takes pride in it.

I, on the other hand generally made friends with the most shy person in class. The ones who were generally ignored by the crowd. Mostly because I was a terrible introvert back then and just wanted a quite time. Though I have improved my social skills over time, I am still an introvert mostly.

This led me to wonder what do we consider 'normal'? What I have seen in the past and from media, indicates that 'normal' is a very inexact term. It tends to change with time and geography. 

In the past, things that were considered 'cool' or 'acceptable' are now old news. There is a whole new way of doing things. For example, being a nerd was considered 'bad' and it was 'good' to be the outgoing type of person. But, nowadays we see that nerds are taking over the world. They are getting the appreciation that they deserved.

Also, different cultures have very different views on practices that are considered healthy. The Japanese for instance are often soft spoken and more reserved. Americans can be loud and more sociable in general. I'm sure you will have better examples in your mind right now about what I am trying to say.

We can never say anything or anyone is truly and universally 'normal'. We can only see that one man's good maybe another man's bad. So, love your uniqueness and embrace your abnormality. That is what makes you who and what you are.