A friend asked, “Is #NormalContact relevant if the news cycle shifted to police brutality and racism (or anything else) from COVID-19?” The answer is simple: #NormalContact is relevant as long as we have to remind ourselves that normal contact is normal!
It seems strange to have to remind ourselves as a society that it is ok to speak from within an arm’s reach. As Americans we stand much farther on average than most cultures when having a conversation. And yet, the distances we’re being told to interact with can seem practically astronomical by comparison. That’s not normal. Universally, we’re becoming used to not understanding each other as well through masks. That’s not normal, either. We’re learning to apologize when we brush someone not because we were rude, but because they might be deeply offended and fear for their lives. Is that really what we think should be acceptable as normal?
#NormalContact as a movement stands for one and only one thing: that we feel, based on the science, that it is ok if someone wants to have a normal interaction with us at normal distances. We aren’t going to force that on anyone, but until the general assumption is, once again, that a normal interaction is, well, normal, then there’s definitely no question regarding whether #NormalContact is relevant. If human interaction is relevant, then so is #NormalContact.
Is that all that makes #NormalContact relevant?
To be fair, #NormalContact isn’t relevant to everyone, although we would argue that it is relevant for everyone. We’ve met folks who don’t think #NormalContact is militant enough, or not in-your-face enough. While plenty of normal contactors are fervent advocates of reopening completely without delay, some aren’t. Some are strong anti-maskers, but others aren’t. For people who want #NormalContact to be more, we understand. And yet, it’s precisely because #NormalContact doesn’t stand for more that makes it so universal, and thus for everyone, even the folks who find it irrelevant to them because it doesn’t push any agenda hard enough for their tastes. Human interaction is for all of us, and that’s exactly what makes #NormalContact relevant.