It’s Crazy

The word “crazy” is used to describe many situations and is uttered so often for so many occasions that it may have little meaning.  When someone wrote to me saying it “makes me crazy” to see me post a picture of someone lying in the road my first reaction wasn’t about the business on the road, but rather how a photograph can make them “crazy”.  Vexed maybe, perplexed or even angry.  But crazy?

The road to crazy winds through some fuzzy territory. For this post I’m going to define “crazy” as irritated, agitated, wound up, pissed off and generally ready to bite.

Words and pictures don’t make me crazy. They can trigger emotions, thoughts and ideas but alone, in isolation, they don’t make me crazy.

Fools and Idiots

Every time I see this photograph it makes me crazy that I didn’t crack open that book, “The Idiot” to see what it was about — lost opportunities haunt me.  Thinking about it now it probably has my picture on page one.

Spend all day reciting words to me and I won’t go crazy.  Butcher the pronunciation of countless terms, add sounds and tone to words, illuminate the most vulgar curse words and you may illicit a yawn.  The words have no power standing alone — for me at least. The idea, malice or cruelty behind a word, that’s a different story. But misuse of a word, call my Vespa a moped — no crazy here.

Actions can make me crazy though.  Saw a guy standing in the park on my way to work, his dog was taking a dump.  His body language indicated “no need to pick that up” and my rear view mirror confirmed the suspicion.  It makes me crazy that people don’t clean up after their dogs.  Crazy is imagining the gathering of said dog logs and mailing them to his home for Valentine’s Day.

Similar crazy reactions emerge in the face of loud motorcycles or leaf blowers that run continuously for more than two hours.  It transforms me and sets me off on an ugly journey.  I hate being on the road to crazy because the whole world seems inhabited by fools and idiots.

Crazy Riding

Film director Tim Burton (Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands) has said,
“One person’s craziness is another person’s reality.”  It drives some people crazy that I write about riding the Vespa in the snow.  One particularly noxious exchange on a forum indicated that my craziness is likely responsible for the demise of some riders.

That’s crazy.  If I had power over people I wouldn’t be sending them out riding in the snow.  They would be mailing me cash.

There have been times though were I’ve been picking my way along a snow covered road where I think I heard a voice in my head whisper, “This is crazy”.

That’s crazy.

Detour Off the Road to Crazy

In spite of any crazy, nutty reactions or behaviors, mine or someone else’s, riding seems to provide a welcome detour toward a more relaxed and serene journey.  I’ve been riding regularly now for over ten years and don’t often see crazy.  When it does enter my field of view, I know what to do.

Ride!