Reactions and norms

Over the last few days I've witnessed something in action.  I'm going to call it the conscience reflex.  On a number of occasions in the last couple of weeks, individuals have approached me in an agitated mood.  One on the lower scale of of anger, being held in because the realms of their conscience is restraining them, then asked for something to be done.  In each case I've kept calm, didn't react, apologised if the case required it and then got on with what had to be done.  Shortly afterwards, those same individuals, as though from some inner conscience being pricked would talk to me with a more pleasant attitude.  As though they had realised their own actions may of been perceived in a poor light by me.   It was make-up behaviour.   Some kind of internal self awareness-scales were being put back into balance.  I don't mean to say this goes for everyone, but it must surely go for some people.  For those it don't work for it could be they don't care how their behaviour is perceived, they suffer from some kind of autism, they dislike me or they are psychotic.  If they are psychotic then their behaviour would of only been the edge of what might happen.  It does though make you wonder how common psychopaths are in real life.  They can't be too popular because we'd see instances all the time.  I could see the headline now "fat man murdered for stepping on toe"  and the assailant replying to the press "he stepped on my blue suede shoes."  Memo to self, don't step on anyone's shoes no matter what their colour.

Then again there are people we know, who do have distinctive behaviour which is on the border of normal and entering some other classification.  I should know because half the time Sparkling and I tell each other how normal we think we are in comparison to other members in our families.  No matter how much I want to believe I was somehow swapped at birth I can not deny the genetic similarities to my kin.  The only way around this would be get plastic surgery or wear a mask.  Then, on occasion Sparkling will say I'm not normal and show displays of odd behaviour.  I recall once when trying to purchase a book in a big store being frantic they didn't have the second of three books when I believed it was ridiculous and they should of.  If a set of books come in three then they should of had all three not just the first and last.  It makes sense.  Anyway Sparkles said I was stroppy.  But in my mind I had every right to be stroppy however, I really wasn't stroppy, I didn't think I was stroppy.  Not at all.  So perhaps, how other people perceive us is an indicator of whether we are normal.  But then what if the other person doing the observing isn't normal either?  What an enigma, because this means the realms of normal behaviour are wider than anyone can perceive.  What we perceive then becomes a narrow range of accepted behaviour or non accepted behaviour but get-over-it, or you get wound up by it behaviour.

There can not be such a thing as normal.  I could go walking down the street in an onion suit and get starred at, or worse get taken away by men in white coats and put into a secure facility.  Better than a local take-away thinking I really was a vegetable.  However, were there a whole bunch of people all dressed up in onion suits walking down the road, it would be a group norm and likely to be more readily accepted no matter how many observers turned their heads.  I'd only hope we didn't smell like them as well.  Then again there's a lot you can get used to.