I wonder why any of us should ever be surprised at anything that occurs during our lifetime. Haven’t we experienced unexpected circumstances before? We all know the answer to that question. The ‘shock’ and or ‘surprise’ of circumstances, or events whether personal or worldly, of words said by ourselves or others, have occurred our entire lives.

So why wouldn’t we expect the unexpected?

A watered-down comparison or simile, being surprised at “How early the sun goes down” when Daylight Savings Time commences is something that occurs every single year within every State (with few exceptions) in the Continental United States. Why don’t we become accustomed to that phenomenon?

I think it comes down to ‘normalcy’. When we as individuals or societies experience something outside our personal normalcy, we are shocked or surprised.

So the thought to ponder leads me to ‘What is normalcy?’ The dictionary defines the word as ‘the condition of being normal; the state of being typical, or expected’. I’m not sure that word has a true concrete definition. I don’t think a concrete definition is even possible for that word because one can argue that ‘normal’ is relative.

My head is spinning. I suppose we must be somewhat satisfied with the worded definition as it stands today. Now I’m thinking will I be shocked or surprised if that ever changes?

Oh my goodness, parsing words and definitions is difficult enough let alone fully expecting the unexpected.