The word crazy has found way into our everyday language. Much like diva and genius it's a word so over used that it's lost much of the original meaning. Every other sentence during a gossip session is "I know her, she's crazy." The longer the conversation goes the more you'll realized that most of the gay population has been written off as crazy by their peers. God forbid you're single and trying to meet knew people. You'll get someones whole crazy history before you ever get to the first date. Also with all this apparent mental illness you can easily start to question society and effectiveness of modern medicine.
Let's take a closer look at these supposed crazies. Maybe he got so drunk and vomited so violently that it could be heard down the hall of the hotel. Or maybe he had to get out of the car and do a breathalyzer test while wearing a Wizard of Oz Dorothy costume. Better yet, maybe he crashed his car after doing a huge hit a poppers while driving home. If I heard any of those stories about a stranger I'd instantly say one thing. "Bitch is crazy." However, those three situations all happened to friends of mine whom I still care about, trust and associate with. They are all fine upstanding citizens and productive members of society that happen to have had a messy moment. That's the truth about crazy. We've all been guilty of it at one point. If you dig deep enough into your past you can find someone who probably still thinks you're crazy from that one time you... It's a part of life. A bad breakup or a drunken mistake can get the best of all of us. What's your crazy?
The other problem with crazy being over used and diluted is that we lack a word for when a person is legitimately crazy. As in: Stay away from that guy because he'll rob you, rape you or murder you. There are plenty of proven psychopaths in the world but their serious warning may be ignored when you just got finished calling someone crazy for wearing Tiva sandals. Our judgmental culture has lowered the crazy bar so low that it's like a limbo tournament in Munchkin Land. We need to recalibrate because it comes down to a language problem. We need more words to describe distasteful behavior. What I've realized is that the word crazy, as it is used now, usually means a 'moment of imperfection or misjudgment.' By that I mean, it's a moment when we let our guard down and let the mess shine through. To better differentiate the varying levels of crazy here are some additional synonyms to add some more flavor to our tea:
Messy- used for most drunken mistakes
Insane or psycho- situations where heavy emotions are involved like rage, infatuation, or addiction
Lunatic- erratic and unpredictable behavior. Medication is or needs to be involved
So the next time you hear someone is crazy, stop judging for a moment and get more detailed information. They may have made one unfortunate mistake that can be forgiven or they were just released from the mental ward of Yale New Haven Hospital and should be avoided at all costs. Also, assume that at that very moment someone across town is telling your history of craziness to their friends as well.
Oh... and want to know the best way to wipe your crazy slate clean? Buy all new luggage and move half way across the country. Leave that beat up baggage behind.
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