Courtnay Veazey

One of the things I love about my graduate program is my professors’ creative use of the tangible (movies) to educate us on the intangible (theories). Last semester, my family counseling professor asked us to watch The Matrix to help us understand how the science of cybernetics applies to family counseling. That's not a movie I would have chosen on my own, but I am thankful I watched it. At one point in the movie, Morpheus tells Neo the matrix is a veil that prevents him from seeing reality. This quote made me reflect upon the different veils in my life that keep me from experiencing reality, being real with others, and most importantly, being real with myself. (Hello, perfectionism and need to perform. It’s nice to see y’all again.)

Each time I reflect upon this film, the same image enters my mind: Bruno putting on the striped “pajamas” and entering into Shmuel’s world, a world that is abnormal to Bruno but normal for Shmuel. What defines normal? According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, normal is “conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern” (NORMAL, 2010). Based on this definition, Bruno’s father’s actions were normal because he conformed to the standard set by the Nazi regime. Also, the father perceived his actions as appropriate and normal. Therefore, normal is also defined (and possibly limited) by our perceptions of the world in which we live. As my husband told me the other day, life and our perception of it stems from the prism of our own expectations.