The New Normal

Aug 11 2011

The world as we know it

is over.

Until the new normal

is overthrown

once again,

another insurrection

of unplanned events.

And so, we adapt.

The King is dead

   …long live the King!

Except I don’t know the world,

I never have.

7 billion souls, and counting.

How many making love

or falling in?

How many births and deaths

in one more minute?

A cacophony of words

piling on,

until the babble hurts.

A man’s home is his castle,

a minor sovereign

in a small principality.

So I rely on my envoys, and ambassadors

to bring me news.

Which they do,

in dribs and drabs.

I would see for myself,

but we cannot risk the king

in a world, so hazardous.

I promulgate decrees

make plans,

but even these

can backfire

  —  the law of unintended consequence.

Or I can let things drift,

and hope my tiny kingdom makes it through

survives the palace coup.

Because the revolution is constant

when every choice, or indecision

is a branch in the river;

taken, or not.

So it’s always something new.

And normal doesn’t stop

for long.

We heard these expressions a lot, after 9/11:  “the new normal”, and “the world as we know it is over.” Which is true  …and isn’t. Because this is how it’s always been.  There are no guarantees. Change is the default state.

Every tiny slice of time is a decision point, a fork in the road. Even a small inconsequential decision can completely alter our future course. What is surprising is not the newness; what’s surprising is the relative stability of our lives, and of our roughly predictable futures.

The “king” metaphor to which I call back throughout the piece was a complete accident. I love the sense of diametric alteration in the expression “the King is dead; long live the King!” So when it occurred to me to use it here, it brought along an unexpected gift; one with which I couldn’t resist playing!