Workplace Calisthenics: America's current version of 'normal' troubling

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Cal LeMon, of Executive Enrichment Inc., solves organizational problems with customized training and consulting. |ret||ret||tab|

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If this is "normal," we are in trouble.|ret||ret||tab|

I have been loitering around the avenues of my life trying to remember what "normal" was like prior to Sept. 11. No one cared about "normal" because it was so so familiar. We did not talk about "normal" because normal was boring. |ret||ret||tab|

As a matter of fact, we tried to avoid "normal." The only normal people we knew were the "dorks" and "geeks" who dressed up like Ozzie and Harriet, and had a penchant for pressed and starched aprons (and, we assumed, probably their underwear, too).|ret||ret||tab|

I have been watching "normal" fill in the pockmarks left by the 757s and 767s that rammed into the sanctity of our lives. Are these the marks of our society's greatness?|ret||ret||tab|

There was celebration in the streets because the owners and players of national sleazeball did not go on strike. Who cares?|ret||ret||tab|

While millions of us listened to portable televisions and radios to find out if millionaires would become multimillionaires at our expense, this nation is openly debating whether to commit the sacrifice of lives to the new international practice of "effecting regime change" in Iraq.|ret||ret||tab|

When men and women of this nation are bombing Baghdad, the "national pastime" will be an entertainment luxury that is terribly out of time. If, as we are being led to believe, Iraq is prepared to lob a nuclear device into downtown Tel Aviv, the refusal of Sammy Sosa to play in Chicago because he isn't making enough money will be an obscene gesture.|ret||ret||tab|

Let's switch channels. Who really cares whether Kelly or Justin wins the $1 million recording contract on "American Idol"? I am disgusted that this cocktail waitress and Jimmy Hendrix-Afro-wannabe would capture so much of our national cranial space.|ret||ret||tab|

While these young people have been gyrating themselves into stardom, this society is seemingly bereft of solutions to keep our children from being snatched from their front yards and beds.|ret||ret||tab|

Oh, the list goes on.|ret||ret||tab|

Why would we really care whether Sarah Jessica Parker would be wearing Jimmy Choos or Pradas this week?|ret||ret||tab|

Why would anyone really care about whether Britney Spears should take a hiatus from her hawking of harmonies, or whether or not Lance Bass can really afford the $20 million to hold hands with the Soviets in space?|ret||ret||tab|

Our conversations and priorities, as portrayed in mass media, have nothing to do with greatness.|ret||ret||tab|

We have become as passive as the media we adore. We seek easy answers to our worst fears by crossing our fingers and hoping that this week Publishers Clearing House will show up at our door with an oversized check and video camera.|ret||ret||tab|

The Cinderella Complex is alive and well as we remind each other that life will be worth living as soon as we win the Missouri Lotto.|ret||ret||tab|

In the meantime, we cannot seem to find the money to pay a living wage to the people who teach our children. We just do not know what to do about the spread of AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. And we have yet to find a pledge, a contract or mantra that prevents people with economic power from practicing their greed at the expense of our 401(k).|ret||ret||tab|

Whoa! This is all too depressing. Let's get back to normal.|ret||ret||tab|

Hey, did you hear Sarah Jessica Parker will be wearing a pair of Stuart Weitsman's this Sunday night?|ret||ret||tab|

Who cares!|ret||ret||tab|

If this is the new "normal," we are in trouble.|ret||ret||tab|

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