Normality In David Sedaris 'Essay' Us And Them

What exactly is the societal definition of "normality"? In this personal essay "Us and Them" by David Sedaris, the author not only brings this thought into the mind of the reader but also manages to make an eye-opening point about how in today's modern society, we often single out and sometimes even shun people whose habits are different from those that we may consider "normal" (while not really understanding just how subjective the concept of normality is itself.) Sedaris explores this exact idea by telling a story from his childhood that shows how he personally singled out and shunned a family, albeit in his own childlike and almost innocent way (I.e. spying on them, refusing to share his candy, and attempting to gossip about things they do that in his opinion are, well, peculiar), all because they didn’t fall in line with his definition of "normal". (insert final sentence of paragraph here) Throughout this text, a vivid picture of a young Sedaris, his family and their relationship with The Tomkeys (a
Sedaris does this by telling a particular story from his childhood about his neighbors and the relationship he had with them. A story that addresses the concept of "Us" and "Them" and the separation we put between the two, all because of this idea of normality that we have in our heads. Which brings me back to my initial question and last thought to leave you with; who's to really say what the societal definition of normality is and why does it even matter? People are people no matter what they believe and do. One could even argue that there is no "Us" or "Them", and that concept only arises when we as human decide to single out others for whatever reason we may