Quit Being Normal

The normal human blood pressure is 120/80.  A normal pulse rate is 60-100 beats per minute…unless you count the first time I saw my wife-to-be…I thought they may have to get the paddles out.  The normal level of saline in your body is 9.0 grams/liter. After a bag of Doritos, that number rises significantly. The normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees farenheit. By the way, the most accurate place to measure this is not by mouth or armpit…that’s as far as I am going with that. The normal size of an adult liver is 3.3 pounds.  Side note = do you know why it is called such?  The normal size of paper is 8.5 x 11 inches. Ironically, this was the same size of space left on my essay for admission to Harvard.  Begin to substitute “average” for “normal” if that helps get the point across. The normal shoe size for women is 8, for men it is 10.5. By the way, whatever happened to shoehorns? The normal number of extra miles driven by men in a year because we are just too stubborn to ask for directions is 276. Not a shocker, that statistic was reported by a woman. The normal number of teeth for an adult is 32.  For a hockey player, that number declines significantly.  The normal number of t-shirts owned is 27…how many are leased is unknown.  The normal number of times a person moves in a lifetime is 14.  Heck, I moved six times just at Butler.  The normal amount of calories one consumes in a day is 1940 for women and 2550 for men.  Those numbers during holidays are off the charts.  The normal number of times a person sneezes in a year is 200.  The normal number of times someone sneezes on you is about equal.  The normal length of a paragraph is 5-8 sentences – looks like I exceeded that.

I never want to be characterized as normal.  A kid in the cafeteria told me that I was not a normal Principal.  I said “thank you”.  Normal is a setting on a dryer. I have no intention of being an appliance.   It should never be a tag on an exemplary teacher.  It should never be a tag on an exemplary administrator.  It should never be a tag on an exemplary custodian, secretary, treasurer, or anyone else who works in a school.  The experience a student receives at this school should be anything but normal.  We want this to be a place where kids want to be.  Normal is not what they want.  As an example, do you choose books because they are normal?  Do you choose a romantic dinner with your spouse because it is a normal place?  To me, normal is synonomous with average.  Average is not something that you should aspire to.  Think of it this way:  average is the best of the worst and the worst of the best.  Hmmm…starting to see the point?   Choose to rise above just being normal.  In fact, if need be – quit being normal!  The experience that kids get in your classroom is just once.  The experience they get at our school is just once.  The experience they get from you today is just once.  Why settle for normal?