Crazy time today often has a very negative connotation. We think of the crazies in our world and the damage they often do. We try to figure out what made them crazy or what ticked off their crazy streak. We wonder “How could anyone do something so bizarre? What made them do such things?” However, being somewhat crazy and having some crazy time can have other connotations. For instance, many of us are straitlaced and very uptight. We are constantly honed to think about our duties, responsibilities and obligations to others and ourselves. There comes a time when maybe we all need to let go of these, to become somewhat “crazy.” Here are four definitions of the word crazy:
1. Mentally deranged; demented; insane.
2. Senseless; impractical; totally unsound: a crazy scheme.
3. Informal. Intensely enthusiastic; passionately excited: crazy about baseball.
4. Informal. Very enamored or infatuated (usually fol. by about): He was crazy
about her. (www.dictionary.com)
No one wants the first definition to apply to them, but the second definition has often been applied to geniuses and entrepreneurs, while the third and fourth definitions have probably applied to all of us at one time or another. Who among us is not crazy about something? Thus, craziness is simply a state of being that others do not share at that time. Craziness may also be the essence of nonconformity. Those who dance to their own drummers seldom share the same state of being that others do.
Thus, going a little crazy might be good not only for our spirit but also for our creative side. Who among us would venture out and do anything really unique or different if they afraid to flaunt convention and practical reality? In fact, craziness might just be the sine qua non of the adventurous and spirited. Crazy people can not care what others think or whether they are being "normal." Was Steve Jobs normal or Albert Einstein or Dr. W. E. Deming? Maybe we should all be more crazy.
Have you ever been called crazy? Why? Do you ever indulge in activities that others think are crazy? What would your life be like if you were just a little more crazy? What if you danced a little crazier? Acted a little crazier? Dressed a little crazier?
I'm not so sure that "no one wants the first definition to apply to them". Do you remember the "oddfather"? Vincent Gigante was a Mafia Don who used to wander Greenwich Village in his pajamas. He successfully avoided prosecution for serious crimes for many years because he skillfully cultivated a reputation for being mentally deranged and demented. President Nixon also believed that it was in our national interest for the Soviets to believe that we just might be crazy enough to use our nuclear weapons.
ReplyDeleteAt a more personal level, it has long struck me that being labeled insane has its pluses as well as its minuses. You are rendered non-responsible for any thing you do or for any debts you may run up. The costs (loss of freedom, not being taken seriously) probably outweigh the benefits, but we should acknowledge the benefits.
I doubt that there is anybody who would not be considered crazy by someone else. The most placid conformist is crazy in the eyes of a radical who believe strong action is necessary in the face of what he sees as looming threats (and the conformist will think of the overwrought radical as crazy too). Personally, I've had two different lovers insist that I be examined by psychiatrists because they were so concerned about my attitudes and behavior. In one of those cases, I really was what I would later accept as crazy, in a chemically induced state of mania. In the other, I just had political views that the other person could not accept.
If you have ever undergone any deep change, for example a religious conversion, then your life is broken into two parts. You regard your former self as having been lost, or blind, or crazy. And if your former self could come back or reassert himself, he would feel the same way about how you are now. A person who never undergoes such deep changes has a unified life, but is he missing out on something (being born again)? Is he crazy in his own way?
I remember very well "Vinnie the chin" he was also so known as. I guess even craziness (in the first definition) can have its appeal. I think Bruce that your explanation of religious "conversion" sounds very plausible. I have not had it happen yet. I have to confess, I have probably spent more of my life avoiding risk and avoiding being labeled as "different" or crazy. I am not a conformist but I have not been a high risk taker either. My current crusade is to be more politically out there with my ideas and to take more risks. Thanks again for your insights and for adding another perspective. I love the Rashomon story because it shows the value of perspective or the lack thereof.
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