There are certain issues I don’t remember being discussed much when I was a kid but there were always slang words that covered the territory, whether it was retard, crazy, loon, wacky, etc. We still use some of these words while others have gone out of favor. It’s another reason to live by the sticks and stones motto. Language like this is a coping mechanism; a way that we frail humans try and deal with stuff that either scares us or makes us uncomfortable.

While mental health is now discussed and treated more openly, it still has that notion of being something to hide. That in itself is crazy since various degrees of sanity are on display daily at our workplaces, in our homes, in our cities, and in our schools. We cannot go one day without reading about or seeing people do things that are bonkers, even from those that are supposed to be the best of us. The people we elect, endorse, or pay to see.

I used to think that the most sane place possible was probably in the labs, where scientists have to spend a great deal of time studying very specific things, almost as if there’s no time to be distracted by crazy (never mind Mary Shelley’s early writings), but then you read about doctors and researchers and you realize that yes, the crazy gene can be hiding in there ready to be sealed away in an envelope with a bit of anthrax, or put into a needle to study a set of twins.

I have begun to see history as a stream that has done everything possible to avoid the chaos of the brain. Fifty years ago, after pushing forward the aviation industry, Howard Hughes spent the last part of his life locked away in a room of his choice washing his hands for hours and eating ice cream. Sixty years ago, an emotionally disturbed former Marine made three precision shots in nine seconds in broad daylight to kill a President. Seventy years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court intervened when it said, “You know, this issue of keeping white and black kids separated because they’re white and black? That’s kind of crazy.”

It’s there. It has always been there. The real question is whether we are more crazy now than we were in the past.

Our brains are like our fingerprints in that I surmise everyone has different and unique brain complexities that we are studying but still not understanding. Some are more prone to reading and writing while others are more prone to mechanical and tactile mastery. Some have great emotional power to connect with people while others know everything about building a computer but not how to talk to a woman. And if some of the sizes or shapes of the brain are a bit different, or some of the chemicals mixed a little brackish, well, I think you get what makes you uniquely you. Every now and then someone gets a brain where they can taste colors or feel what a cow feels or become an Einstein, a DaVinci, an Edison, or a Tesla.

While I think there are evolutionary changes at work with our brains that we don’t catch in a lifespan, the nurture part of life plays a tipping scale and is the part undergoing the most amount of change. The surroundings, our environment, the mom and dad model, and some guiding figures like a coach or a teacher, all make a huge difference in how the brain evolves. I think the consistency and steadiness, the expectations of these markers for becoming healthy adult citizens are simply getting harder to come by in today’s society.

I’ll list a few examples for the sake of intrigue:

• Moms and dads today are mostly working outside the home, whereas one member of the family used to have the ability to financially support a family. Once union and career-type jobs fell out of favor, the family support system was equally diminished. With two parents working, there became less time with kids and less time with clubs, neighbors, and churches. Kids on their own are introduced to more things earlier, with plenty of screens and less guidance. Those screens take up a lot of time that used to be taken up by wise adults, turning kids into commercial clones of how to look, smell, feel, eat, and clothe themselves.

• People once did more group things together, whether going to church, bowling or watching Ed Sullivan. Now, we find our own paths, do more diverse hobbies, and watch our own stuff in our own rooms on our own phones. On one hand, our individuality is sharpened but it may be quite shallow. We’ve lost the wisdom of togetherness and may be more prone to following the wrong things.

• Hunting and fishing were a rite of passage, but now we are more urbanized and less country. The good spots are not as close by and you have to plan in your busy schedule to “get away”. Besides, it is easier to get food in stores and bring it home, assuming someone is there to cook and eat it with.

• You knew more people back then, like really knew them, whether neighbors, the postman, Sister Martha, the doctor, or even our relatives. Today, we can have a thousand Facebook friends and followers and still be lonely as hell.

• Healthcare, which from the days of the Hippocratic Oath, was First, Do No Harm, is now coupled with Second, Seek Payment.

• A fender bender, at one time settled with handshakes or the local garage, now comes with monthly premiums and the constant threat of lawsuits.

• Franchises are everywhere, so while we love the expectation of a certain type of pancake or the taste of our coffee, we no longer have Alice serving it or Mel cooking it. Food is served quick and anonymous with very little human connection.

Some have proposed that there are simply more of us living together and the stress of that leads to mental health issues, but that does not fly when looking at life longevity, quality of life, and crime statistics for many parts of the world that have also seen population growth.

The great irony here is that this progress, this expectation of everything on time, in two days, 30 minutes or less, bigger, better, faster, cheaper, with our first name on the cup with a smiley face, has made us more nutty. Regardless of the myth and marketing that says it’s all about you, we are way too over-reliant on each other as anonymous individuals. We don’t know each other as persons, only as expectations.

There is only one thing left to do. Making America what it was again will not come by force or foolishness, it’ll be by re-recognizing each other as human. That’s the nurturing part. You look for the win-win opportunities, you leave a little bit on the table, you leave things better than you found them. You share in success. You expect problems or mistakes or missed deliveries to happen, you just don’t live a life looking for them. If you have the power to make things better, you use it. You try. You don’t point and you don’t be complacent.

A life with less stress and better mental health is doable, but we will need to work for systemic change. While economic progress has long been measurable, there’s a whole lot left out in the accounting.

Keep it simple. Protect the ability for a person to walk anywhere for what they need, to have pride in their work, and to have plenty of public places to be with nature and others. Make it easy again to know more people up close. When you buy something, consider what and who you’re supporting. Follow your decision to the end of the economic line.

The end result will be a little less anonymity and a little more kinship.

That’s the right kind of crazy we need.

The number of guns in circulation is now at the level of one for every American, all of us, nuts or not. We have become so accustomed to random shootings that we have acclimated to abandoning our malls, teaching active shooter drills in schools, spending a fortune on security services, and spending a ton of time indoors. Throw in a school system that survives on outdated funding mechanisms, with kids that don’t come ready to learn, to more focus on security than on class content, and the loss of school nurses and guidance counselors. It’s no wonder that schools have become more of a mirage for getting an education.

Then you have stories like this one.

The most conservative principle we all know is that parents are responsible for their kids, but what happens when they do something dumb or don’t do anything at all?

Read the article. Ever since Columbine, I have had a hard time absolving parents when their kids are involved with such a planned, heinous crime. After all, the buck has to stop somewhere. I don’t have the answer, though in this case, I think some examples wouldn’t hurt.

So why am I talking about cannabis in an article about mental health? Because for many, it is making a difference. I think that the legalization of cannabis will be nationwide within five years. The most stubborn conservative states are seeing the trend, the revenue from sales, and without a problematic increase in crime.

Cannabis is now being studied more routinely for its effects on mental health and health in general. What will most likely occur is it will end up being classed and considered like alcohol. Regulated for use above a certain age. Okay once in a while, not all the time.

People have been self-medicating off nature since drinking fermented honey from a bee’s nest, or plucking a mushroom in the forest. Some natural sources are dangerous, some are not. Cannabis is not, and I would rather see it regulated akin to any potential vice such as alcohol and gambling. Not only would it bring in revenue for states to pay expenses, but I would hope…hope…that it will allow us to focus more on real crippling crimes. It is nuts to consider all the time and effort that has gone into criminalizing weed, another historical lesson missed from Prohibition of the 1920’s.

While I do think efforts are needed to curb youthful experimentation, adults can learn to moderate pot the same as alcohol. Read through this great profile of the last ten years of legalization by CSM, and you will have a good idea of the pros and cons and the road ahead. Side note: a lot of people hate the smell. If you’re an advocate, be mindful of that. Be considerate. Hopefully, these businesses will continue research into cannabis strains with less of an odor.

I want to suggest that you don’t read about Boy Swallows Universe, but that you simply go watch it on Netflix.

It is a quirky, humorous, dark run of episodes from Down Under, centered on a boy and his brother in the mid-1980s and the cast of adult characters around them with mostly screwed-up lives. My wife and I loved this and it defies any kind of routine series description. I’m not sure what to compare it to. Maybe Shameless? It’s definitely one of the best things out this new year and will get your brain stimulated.

And Now….

With January coming to a close you should be into or out of at least one book, something that needs time and attention from you. Something with a bit of weight to it. Your brain will thank you for the distraction.

Hope to see you next time. Keep reading, practice your gratefulness, and remember:

Be a Good Human.