When I saw a seven-year-oldboy relentlessly making fun of one of his peers, I pulled him aside and asked whyhe was being so mean. Hesitating, he replied, "I don't know. He just isn'tnormal." I was shocked, not expecting him to be already aware of differencesbetween people and dislike them for those reasons.

It is engraved in ourminds that we should be just like everyone else, or "normal," as thisboy put it. This concept is terrible. Anyone normal talks like the majority,keeps up with the latest fashions, listens to popular music, drives the newestcars, adheres to the common trends and simply lives by following the crowd inhopes of being accepted.

There are always those who are considered oddbecause they do not surrender to normality. Often they are shunned, ignored, madefun of and avoided for being individuals. We should take the time to think aboutthis. The concept of being normal should not exist. Nothing on this planet is thesame: every snowflake is different, every blade of grass is different, everyanimal is different, every rock is different, even identical twins are different.So how can someone possibly look at human beings and categorize them as normal? Iwould be insulted if anyone branded me with that label. It would suggest that Iam boring and unoriginal. We have to realize that we are all different ininfinite ways. The word "normal" should be abolished. Seriously, wouldyou want to live in a world where everything was normal?