Masih's Choice

Gauge of Normalcy

As human we are put on this earth with no sense of definite direction. When we are born, we aren’t handed a handbook on how to live our lives. When we see someone else do something we like to do, or have the desire to do, we get together and form a community.  Community gives us confirmation that our way of living life is normal. Any activity in this world can be connected to a sense of community. It is nearly impossible do even think of doing something, if there is only one person doing it.

What forms a community is passion and interest for a certain subject or an activity. In her essay Befriending Barbie, Shari Caudron explores the world of Barbie dolls collection. In her essay she reflects on what she saw in a Barbie Doll convention, “behind a pink cord, there were about 150 people standing in line wearing psychedelic clothing, abstract geometric prints, Afro wigs, and lime green fringed vests. Two men at the front were wearing matching striped bell bottoms, white belts and platform shoes.” She further goes on to see “booths and tables that were filled with overfilling with clothing, accessories, books, teeny, tiny jewelry, I love Lucy barbies little Bo Peep Barbies, Erika Kane Barbies, And Olympic Athlete Barbies” (170). One can see that all these people are totally obsessed with Barbies, but why? After all it’s just a doll. The reason is because there are so many people passionate and interested about it. Barbie collection is “second only to stamp collecting as the most popular collecting hobby in America” (168). There would be no extravagant conventions such as this if there was only 1 person who liked this hobby. Barbies, are after all just dolls, but the mass appeal attracted the formation of this dedicated community. From the outsider’s perspective looking in, one would definitely judge a grown man if he was in line dressed up for a Barbie convention. But to that person, that lifestyle is normal because there are so many people doing the same thing he likes to do which is obsessing over Barbie.

Communities can range from as big as the Barbie doll collection community, to as small as the high school wrestling community. High school wrestling is by far the most physically demanding sport in high school. There aren’t any professional leagues for high caliber wrestlers, there aren’t any million dollar contracts, and there aren’t sponsorships. But still every year, young men and women still go through the pain and agony of cutting weight, running miles, just so they can put on tights so they can battle an opponent in the ring. But why? The reason is because of the community. You would sound crazy to wrestle by yourself and be the only one on the team, but the passion to win and get your hand raised motivates kids of all ages to join the wrestling team. When Cascade High School head wrestling coach, Todd Freeman, was asked “What community means to him”? He replied “community to me is a place where people feel safe and comfortable, and be happy doing what they do. A community can range from wrestling, to playing soccer, or being in the chess team, or just being a nice person.” It is not necessarily where you live, or who you hang out with. It’s mostly what you like to do. Let’s take wrestling for example, there would be nobody doing wrestling, if there was only person on a team. When kids see other kids doing something and it interest’s them, they seem do want to give more effort and attention, and be more expressive on how they behave. I know I am a coach of the wrestling team, but this team will go nowhere if there wasn’t a community to support it”. Then he was asked “why do so many kids do wrestling even though it’s a hard sport”? He answered “When a wrestler sees another wrestler work as hard or even harder, then he is more motivated to work hard. My number one philosophy in wrestling is character outside the wrestling mat. When you see my athletes walking in halls of the school, they vibrate a sense of pride which can be seen by all, kids want to be part of that, so when student see my athletes, they want to be part of that, which in turn builds the community, which in turn is benevolent cycle that builds the team bigger and stronger”. The last question he was asked was “why did you choose to wrestle”? He answered “at first I was hesitant to do wrestling, but the reason why I did it was because there were so many kids wrestling in my high school, that it was the thing to do. Here in Cascade High school we don’t have a big program because kids look at wrestling and say it’s just weird when guys touch other guys, so there is a mob mentality not to do wrestling. If the whole school bought into the idea of wrestling being a sport in which character and pride is built, we would have a strong team. When kids see their friends wrestle they want to wrestle, it’s that simple. But when they see the sport being looked at as being “homosexual” they are deterred because they will be looked at by their peers as an outcast, But when they enter and buy into the wrestling community, they feel more comfortable with what they are doing because they see so many kids wrestling and see that it’s no different than any other sport.” So basically, seeing other kids wrestle, and take pride in what they do attracts the interests of other kids in school, making this grueling sport seem a normal thing to do, and not weird. 

Community although big or small is a gauge of normalcy for human tendencies. When we see other people do the same thing we like to do, we get together and do it because we feel normal. There would be no obsession over dolls, or determination for a grueling sport, if there was only one person interested in the subject. This interpretation of community can be related to all aspects life big or little.