Am I Crazy?
This is the question some angry young people have been desperately asking since the Virginia Tech shooting. It is a good question. Often he/she has a problem with anger that is out of control in their household, so why can’t he/she get in such bad shape as to commit another such atrocity? It is a good question, but fortunately off the mark. He/she is afraid that he could go down that road, which pretty much guarantees that that will not happen. If you can ask the question, “Am I crazy,” then you most likely aren’t.
But often people are caught in a system which is fundamentally uncaring in that it is run by accountants. This system is modeled on the money-saving “Managed Care” system in the United States. The whole thing works on the basis that people can be cured of major problems in a half dozen sessions with a counselor.
Think of a musician or a dancer, for example. How well would someone come play the guitar or dance ifsix lessons in their field instrument. They would only be just beginning to get a feel for its potential and they would really not know anything practical.
Enough said! To come back to the question: We are not crazy when we have bad thoughts. Everyone has those and it doesn’t mean we’re going to do something extreme. When we begin to dwell on those thoughts and to take them as reality, that we are starting to loose our touch with our outer reality. Craziness is not marked by crying too much, or mischievous, angry thoughts which flash through our heads.
Crazy is when we loose touch with reality. The crazy rant of the shooter at Virginia State is a prime example of crazy talk from a crazy person. He should have been locked up.