Sunday, March 13, 2016

Is That Crazy or Is That Stupid

I have a theory...that within every group of people you happen to find yourself among, there is at least one crazy person. Maybe more.  My "crazy theory" isn't based on exact calculations but more from a lifetime of experience with not only being able to hone in on the craziest person in any given group but often making friends with them.   (To my immediate family:  You are nodding your heads up and down aren't you... Yeah, I thought so.)


Anyway, I was talking to one of my non-crazy friends this week about my theory and she made a good point that it is often difficult to figure out if someone is crazy or if they are just stupid.

This is especially true, I suspect, when we are lumping people together  with descriptors  so loosely defined such as crazy, stupid, idiot, jerk, etc.  Zeroing in on the appropriate identifier  for each individual that you happen to see acting like a fool becomes a tad difficult.  Sure, most of us recognize that the person in question is "not quite right" but not entirely sure  if we can put a particular name to it. The word "crazy" is pretty much an all encompassing kind of word.


First of all...I think we can all agree that some people's type of "crazy" is fun to be around.  They are spontaneous, witty, funny sorts that have very few inhibitions.  They definitely march to their own drummer but you want to get into the parade with them.  Then there is "bad" crazy where the person seems incapable of either speaking or behaving in what most would deem an appropriate way.

This is where things get fuzzy.  Yes, we now are in the gray area that is between being crazy and being stupid. Well, I guess it could also refer to people that are BOTH crazy and stupid.  This group incorporates  the "bitch" zone and the "dumbass" sector. (Isn't it odd that the words "bitch" and "dumbass" typically are  gender specific?)  This is, also, the area that should alert you to the fact: you might want to  keep your distance.
 

While sometimes, I am insightful enough to realize I shouldn't try to befriend certain people, I have made serious mistakes in the past.  You might remember the person, that I met at a nail salon.  I proceeded to chat with her and unwittingly made plans to meet her for lunch. She appeared to be super friendly but after a few shared lunches, she began stalking me.  When I use the word stalking, I mean that literally.  She showed up everywhere I went, joined all the social clubs I belong to, and starting trying to become friends with my group of friends.

You long time readers might remember her in a post I did a long time ago. (OR...because it was more than 5 years ago, you might, in fact, not remember). Any way she was the one that said her 16 year old was in a relationship with his boss at the Home Depot. The kid worked part-time after school and now had a girlfriend at work. The problem was that this nut of a mother, would drive her unlicensed teen to the married, 24 year old girlfriend's house because he maintained this was true love.  Mom told us over coffee one morning that she thought it was fantastic that her son was so charismatic ( well actually, I believe she used the word "hot" but you get the drift) that he could hook up with a 24 year old.  This puts her in the "distancing yourself" category.

I for one, think in this day in age of technology there should be an machine that would allow us to put a speck of genetic material into it and have it calculate a type of DNA profile that  shows the capacity any given individual to meet at least a minimum standard of being a functional human.  (I am thinking along the lines of saliva, but any genetic material would work).  Then when could get a clear reading on someone's capacity for being...well,  if not sane, at least smart enough to be out in public.



What even started this line of thought, you might be asking?   Last week it just seemed that there was a lot of "crazy" in the wind. In fact, after several weeks of listening and observing random behaviors, I fear  evolution has reached it's peak and is now on the downward spiral.  It's just a matter of time (albeit millions of years) that we evolve back to just grunting and picking fleas off of each other.  I suspect we will still have the ability to text each other but probably unable to verbalize "words".  With that thought in mind, our opposable thumbs will have evolved to be the perfect size for smartphone keyboards.  Good news for all of us fat-fingered types that struggle with our phones.   Also, I predict our middle fingers will also evolve to become larger so they are more visible sticking out of a car window.  This would have to be true if our evolved texting thumbs are busy at every stop light.  

Back to present day craziness though....A couple of days ago, I stopped at the Walmart to pick up a couple of things for supper (that isn't the crazy part yet).  I was standing in a line behind a young mother of a grade schooler, two toddlers,  and she seemed to be on the doorstep of giving birth to a 4th little one right there in the Walmart. (still not the crazy part).
The cashier was ringing up an assortment of groceries consisting of things such as  soda, sugary snacks, chips and such and commented by saying "I see you aren't buying any vegetables today."   That, my friends is a direct quote.

Do I have to tell to you that the young pregnant mom about imploded? Well...let me tell you if looks could kill, there would be one less person working at Walmart.  The mom shot back a "What did you say?" Now you would think a rational person would pull a mia culpa kind of move and say, something to rectify the big "faux pas" (French for the verbal shit she just let fly out of her mouth) but nnnooooo.. she repeated. ... "I see you didn't buy any vegetables today."  This time enunciating a little more clearly and a little louder, which I can only assume she thought pregnant mom was deaf or at least unable to hear above the chatter of 3 children.

Which has me wondering about that type of person... are they stupid or crazy?  OR both?

Another friend of mine, who happens to work in a hospital that is a Trauma 1 level facility was saying that a surgical team was called into the hospital in the middle of the night because someone was coming in from 40 miles away with a cold leg.  (Note: a leg that lost it's circulation thereby going cold...like dead..like a really bad thing if you desire to have 2 legs).   So my friend and the rest of the surgical team go in and get an operating room ready. And they wait...and wait....AND WAIT. 


About an hour and a half later,  cold-legged guy comes in but they can't do the surgery.  Guess why??? Oh come on..guess!  It's because he and his wife were worried that he might not get to eat once he got to the hospital and stopped for a late night burger and fries at the Whataburger.  Not that he wasn't told on the phone that he couldn't eat prior to general anesthetic but I guess when you need a Whataburger, common sense flies out the window.


As usual,....I am being long winded, so I won't tell you about some of the other assorted "crazy" I saw  or heard of last week. I am sure you saw or heard some of it, as well.  Be sure to send my some of your crazier sightings.  Surely, it's not just me. Although, I do think my thumbs and middle finger are evolving as I sign off.



No comments: