Normal?

During the presidential debates, Obama and McCain were asked, is healthcare a right, or a privilege? Listening to life stories this week made me wonder, is having a 'normal life' a right, or a privilege?
To draw the question to its root issue: is normal a right, or a privilege?

One of my concerns about American culture is how everything has become about rights (leading to our increasingly litigious mindset). We have a right to life, liberty, property ownership, and the pursuit of happiness. The American Dream is founded on the belief that everyone has a right to success; with hard work and ingenuity, we can all get there. Which is not all bad; I'm all for life and liberty. What's dangerous is that what we call our 'rights' are also those things which become our demands.

I personally think that healthcare is a privilege. And that is because the target of "good health" is a moving one. In the 1700s, given the high mortality rate, good health is surviving until age 60. Losing a couple teeth or arthritis were annoyances, but overall, the norm. But today, good health has become being pain free with all your body parts functional and accounted for. Braces have become almost a right, rather than a privilege. And soon enough, the definition of health becomes perfect vision and flawless skin and a full thick head of hair like David Norman's …

As a culture we have a pathological fear of any pain and turmoil. People demand to be able to have a perfect night's rest, to wake refreshed, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. But I think a good night's rest shouldn't be considered a right - it's a privilege. "God gives his beloved rest." I think it's a gift from God. The same thing with depression (and I might be on a shaky limb here) - to a certain extent, it is normal and perhaps even good to go through a dark night of the soul - for it is in the darkness that your heart learns to yearn and treasure the light. Part of depression is a working out of a real struggle - like Luther's long agonized despair over his sin. Imagine if we'd prescribed him Prozac. There is real fruit that can come of what we call "illness."

"3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

I'm sure those who have studied human rights can provide a much more thoughtful and accurate definition, but off the cuff, here at 12 PM, I think rights are those things which allow each person their dignity as human beings. I think as Christians we have to be careful about our use of the word "right." Because "rights" quickly become things we demand of God. I'll bet that's most of the reason why we get angry at God: we get angry at God for not giving us things we consider essential to our happiness. Things like perfect health. Perfect parents. A happy childhood. A trauma-free life. Success when you've worked your butt off. A happy marriage when you were faithful, and good. When our relationship to God becomes that of protecting and demanding our rights, and we try to argue with God, we put God on trial and appoint ourselves the judge.

When we stand before God, I don't know if we have any rights at all. We are all horrible sinners. We all deserve eternal damnation, and lifetimes of bad weather, malformed bodies, getting up on the wrong side of the bed, fruit flies, starvation, abuse, self-hatred, and being surrounded by people who hate us. Any good, or happiness, or wholeness we have experienced in our lives is the totally gracious gift ofGod. He gives rain to all. There's a common view that there's this line called normal, which we all are trying to attain, or deserve to have. Normal health. Normal families. Normal lives. But hey, none of us is normal. Normal is a fiction, to which we have no rights at all.