Crazy Hangs Out In The South

In the South, no matter how proper a family is they are willing to let their crazy family members run-a-muck. In other words, they do not believe in hiding their crazies.

In Caribbean and Central American families, any form of crazy is kept quiet because of the stigma associated.

During my life, I have often had a sixth sense to keep the identities of my parents private because there will be people who understand and embrace crazy and there will be others judging harshly and using every occurrence to judge me or disqualify me from participating in life.

The more mature I become I realize how clever I was as a child because most of the unfortunate events I encountered was because people found out I had a parent with mental issues so they used it as an opportunity to pick on me. They believed the apple did not fall far from the tree.

The thing was, my biological mother was not born mentally ill or had any organic inclination towards mental illness. It was not a family legacy that would be passed on to me through DNA.

Stressful events in life would lead her down the garden path of emotional upheavals and bi-polar behavior. These are events which can happen to anyone at any time no matter how in control he/she believes themselves to be.

Sometimes it is a good practice when you do not tell friends and acquaintances everything because when they deceive you the webs they weave will reveal their true character.

My decision to withhold full disclosure about my family life has helped me to sift out the fake friends from the real friends. My lack of information proved effective particularly when one specific friend of mine went around telling folks I am certifiable crazy because after all my biological mother had been treated for emotional illnesses in the past.

The fact that one or two occasions I sought the help of a therapist because I was dealing with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and a broken heart it gave the person ammunition to continue spreading the rumors because I had deemed that individual my best friend and folks believed the information was coming from an authentic and truthful place.

As it turned out my therapist believed I was quite normal and was only healing from affairs of the heart and had developed OCD because of my parent’s and boyfriend’s controlling nature. In others words, it was a matter of control and power.  I needed to regain both over my life.

Even today when things are out of divine order, I start with the obsessive washing of the hands until they are painfully sore. But, I have learned to reel myself in because I know as humans we cannot control every aspect of our lives and sometimes we just have to go with the flow until we can change our circumstances.

However, my shortcomings do not stop people from being unkind and this fact includes some of my “friends”. They will carelessly spread tales that I am nuts not being aware the repercussions it will have on my life.

Actually, I should not say they are not aware because they fully well know what they are doing. Jealousy and covetousness prompt them to use any flaw against me in the hopes others will discredit me or not find me appealing.

Either way, they win because my growth in life will be delayed and when I do not excel like I should, they laugh all the way to the bank because they know their evil actions are a result of my lack of progress or folks undermining me.

In theory being chummy with friends seems like a great concept but in reality, you can only try to treat your friends well and keep your personal life details to yourself, because before friends even become foes they are always looking for leverage to bring your life woes.

Society often wonders why folks with mental issues do not reach out and shout it out. It is because of the snobbery and judgmental attitude which exists in the world today. Just one whiff of someone having a mental problem sets alarms off because people believe they are capable of just about any heinous act including terrorism and random violence.

So you see, when individuals you know talk carelessly about you, spreading salacious gossip and lies, they have the enormous potential to affect your quality of life without thinking twice about the heinous act they have committed.

The South may let their crazy hang out but in the North, West and East most folks prefer to let their wild ones keep a private profile because truthfully society does not care to understand or even let them get in the game of life.