Processing Life
By Don Iannone

Shattered minds--
the sort therapists love
...and the sort driving
average normal people crazy.
What do I know about average normal?
Who even cares!
I think...it's not even worth the effort
...to strive to be normal.
Why strive for anything?
Of course, if you stop striving
...people will say you're not normal.
I say...you're crazy if you do strive.
Look at the normal people you know.
What are they all about anyway?
I suppose they fit the bell-shaped curve.
You know...that statistical aberration
everybody uses to point to mediocrity.
Cut to the chase.
How did you grow up?
Did you have an average shot
...at being normal as a child?
Were you normal
...like the other kids at Elm School
...or did you have a different take on life?
Forget normal.
Fuck it!
I hope you had
...a better than average chance
...of making it as a kid
...because all this unfinished business
...has a way of building up
...to a breaking point
the older you get...
a point beyond
...what the average normal person can bear.
What do you bear in life?
Normal or not
...we all have crosses to bear.
We under-estimate
...the weight of the cross
...most people bear in life.
Think about it.
I look at mine.
While it's growing smaller
...than it used to be
...it's still there.
It always will be
...in one way, shape, or form.
At least my cross
is coming into view.
For a long time, I couldn't see it.
I just felt heavy all the time.
I see yours
...because mine is in better focus
...and it makes mine look small.
While there are no scales to weigh
...the crosses bourne by any of us
...our hearts know the burden
...they lug around day in and out.
It's not worth weighing these things.
That's not why we're here.
Again, being normal isn't the point either.
The only thing that really matters
...is whether you find yourself
...amidst life's comings and goings
...and in so doing
...you find yourself.