Nutters

Thanks to my British friend, I’ve adopted this word “Nutters” for those people acting crazy that we encounter every day.  And I’m grateful for them.  I’m not talking about people who are actually mentally ill which is as serious and real as cancer or heart disease.  I’m refering to the people who can, should, and do know better.

Why am I grateful for them?

They make me feel better about being me.  Call me judgmental.  Call me unkind.  But sometimes I think some people serve the purpose only of making me feel that my lot in life is slightly better than I thought.  They force me into gratitude by the sheer force of their behavior.

Examples abound.

First, there are the nutters who can’t follow the simple rules of life–our basic social compact that keeps the whole system working.  They are the ‘special’ cases who drive solo in the carpool lane, they cut in front of you in the Post Office line to mail Christmas packages, they steal your parking space on the way to a mindfulness class, and they release a torrent of vitriol on unsuspecting people in the Walmart line only to be humiliated when video capturing their behavior goes viral.  Nutters.  These nutters struggle to make the world more comfortable and easy for themselves by making it less so for everyone around them.

Another group of nutters is comprised of people who don’t know they are acting crazy until someone tells them.  Parents screeming at kids on the ball field or when I get crazy stressed over juggling competing social opportunities.  Nutters.  Recently, a friend called in full frontal nutter meltdown over some seriously unlikely peril that could possibly occur some time in the distant future.  Her mind had already taken her so far down the rat hole that she really couldn’t appreciate that she’d gone temporarily nutters. Great friend that I am, I remarked that I was really glad she’d called me because, compared to her, I was a model of good mental health.  Luckily, my comment stymied her downward spiral long enough to make her chuckle.  “Glad to be of service,” she remarked.  Gratefully, nutters is most often a temporary state.

The final group of nutters are people who are so far gone to crazy town that it is best just to step away.  Nutters spewing conspiracy theories and nutters who think we are doomed and the world is at an end.  Nutters who believe there of simple answers to extremely complex problems like healthcare and peace in the Middle East.   They are people who have swallowed whole and spew out the package of lies and alternative facts served up to them. These folks I try to give a wide berth.  Nutter can be contagious and I don’t need to catch any more than I already have.

So why am I grateful for Nutters today?  Because today I don’t feel like the world is ending; I’m not pessimistic about our country or our planet; I don’t think my problems are worse than everyone else’s; I don’t believe anyone or anything is actually trying to harm me; and I feel that I have the tools to face life as it comes.

Comparing myself to others can be dangerous but it can also be just the jolt I need to remind me how good I have it.  Just for today.