- Image by jah~ off n on via Flickr
Crazy people are everywhere. Not just the run of the mill crazy, either. I’m talking about completely out of their head insane, unable to reason their way through modern daily life, wringing their hqnds of all connection to reality, playing the fool way too well for it to be considered acting.
The reason I mention this is simply because I don’t think I have been doing a good enough job of rooting out the crazy in my life. Not for years, in fact.
When I was about 14 or so, I realized that being bored was a choice. I realized that I didn’t have to sit through whatever someone was talking about without letting my mind wander on to more interesting and productive things. Whenever I was alone and had little to do, I would just start writing. Whenever I was in the presenence of a boring subject, I would read or doodle. People who kept on complaining of boredom just weren’t interesting to me. Whqt I realize now is that they are, in fact, crazy. Or, they are about to become crazy.
It is my belief that crazy is a result of not thinking enough or not being able to find something engaging to occupy your time. Not having passion is just plain crazy. And it leads people to do the worst things imaginable.
Like blaming folks for how they try to experience the world around them. Like shaming others for grieving or for feeling or for thinking about much of anything at all. Passionless people are incapable of perspective, and that is what makes them crazy. It is also how you can pick them out of a lineup.
Sitting in a meeting or even in talking to a relative, if you get the sense that someone else can’t consider another point of view, you may want to check their crazy level.
We used to play this game called colored eggs on thenplayground in elementary school. It was a type of tag, where everyone would line up and think of a color out of a typical crayon box (64 crayons being the max that we thought was okay to try for) and then one person would stand opposite of the line and start to guess all of the colors. If the person guessed one of the person’s colors that was standing on the line, the person whose color was guessed would have to run to the other side of the playground without getting tagged. If the person was caught, they would become one of the taggers until there wasn’t anyone left on the line.
There was one boy who never chose any different colors. He always picked the same one: goldenrod. He thought that he was so brilliant in his choice that he would brag to everyone else at lunch about it. He would say, “you are never going to guess what I’m going to be today.” and then when we got out on the playground, the guesser would inevitably go through the more common colors first to try and get as many people off the line as possible. And there this boy would stand, completely confident that he was going to outlast everyone.
He never did, by the way. To my knowledge he never technically won the game. More of the time, he would claim victory because we had to go in from recess and he would still be on the line. We never guessed goldenrod because we didn’t much care about capturing him. We didn’t understand why he didn’t pick a different color so that he could play the tag part of the game. That was the fun part. Thqt was the part that got your heart pumping, that actually helped you to make friends.
When I look back on it now, I can tell that the boy was crazy for choosing goldenrod every day. He was crazy because he had to have his way rather than to join in. He had to have the obscure color rather than learn what the game was about.
The crazy is in each of us, when we find we are in a rut. It is in us when we are stubborn. It is in us when we stop looking around and seeing the differences between us that make us interesting enough to want to sit down and talk to. It is us when we allow ourselves to be bored.
I need to do a better job of rooting out my crazy, whether that is within myself or in the people around me. Otherwise, I might as well be choosing the same color for every day of my life.
Hmmm interesting…guess I never thought of that as crazy. I always thought passionless people were scared…either scared to look inside of their inner selves for fear of what they'd find or wouldn't find or scared of trying and failing or have become a robot in order to try to get through life. I've thought people who thought of it as their way or the highway on every topic were either afraid of being considered wrong or afraid of enlightenment. These are facets of people that are choices…ones I don't understand, but I do my best to respect. Afterall, it is there choice to be that way. I've always thought of crazy as people who truly couldn't get their minds to work and in need of meds but either can't access them or can't get the cocktail right. For those individuals, I really empathized for them. Observing the struggle of one when he/she is fighting so hard, just to think straight, I can't imagine my mind not working. As for who you surround yourself with on your time, I agree, it is a priceless decision and in my eyes one of the most important ones you continuously make in life.
Yeah. Fear is definitely a part of the picture. Anyone who is afraid of
knowledge, though, is simply incomprehensible to me, and therefore crazy in
my eyes. They may have their whole worldview figured out, but I can't see
myself in them at all. I have a hard time respecting that position because
it is so “inhuman” in my estimation. Those that lack the ability to see
themselves through to the next creation or stage of input lack the ability
to empathize with the rest of the world. That kind of a position separates
them from me and so it makes it very hard to surround myself by those folks.
Hmm…
I understand that you wouldn't choose to surround yourself with individuals who choose to think this way; however, I challenge you to respect and continue to dialogue with them. People are where they are for a reason…sometimes they just need to be heard or just need time to digest…don't turn on them…they may not be who you depend on…but they could in time be the ones who are amazing in the field.
I guess I would disagree with you for a bit. I don't believe that things
happen “for a
reason.” I don't give up on people, ever. What I do, however, is
figure out what will help me to grow and surround myself with that. I
will never stop helping others, but I don't have to hang out with
those who aren't interested in figuring things out or
in trying to better themselves. Being with and being a part of are
different. I want to be a part of people who “aren't crazy”, but I don't
mind being with crazy people from time to time.
I guess I would disagree with you for a bit. I don’t believe that thingsrnhappen “for arnreason.” I don’t give up on people, ever. What I do, however, isrnfigure out what will help me to grow and surround myself with that. Irnwill never stop helping others, but I don’t have to hang out withrnthose who aren’t interested in figuring things out orrnin trying to better themselves. Being with and being a part of arerndifferent. I want to be a part of people who “aren’t crazy”, but I don’trnmind being with crazy people from time to time.