Rosalyn Fisher
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Embrace
Your Crazy Woman
by Rosalind Fisher
Dedication
For Hattie Gossett and Erica Moore
Author Susan Sontag once said, "Sanity is a cozy lie." Amazing how often strong,
visionary, articulate, women are labeled crazy. Crazy is a label I have worn myself a time
or two. I am not talking about crazy as in putting fire ants in the underwear drawer of an
unfaithful lover; that kind of crazy is really rage. I am also not talking about crazy as
in cutting oneself with sharp objects; that kind of crazy is indicative of an illness
requiring psychiatric assistance. I am talking about the kind of crazy that is really the
ability to see through the nonsense that mimics the truth.
The clearest evidence to me that I am on the right track about something is when someone
tells me I am crazy. Especially, if it is a man who laughs sheepishly after he says it.
When this happens, I know I am so close to the truth, until he is unnerved.
The truth can be an illuminating, frightening, wonderful and terrible thing depending on
where you sit, but no one can deny the power of the truth. Women who know the truth about
anything significant, and most truth has significance to someone, have power. The easiest
way to diminish this power is to call a person’s sanity into question. I know that
when most women hear themselves labeled crazy we immediately begin to doubt ourselves.
A friend of mine called me once to discuss the difficulty she was going through in law
school because she had identified some injustice in the school's treatment of students.
Some administrators of the school, rather than addressing the issue, began to criticize
her and reinterpret reality for her.
 In
Greek mythology when Cassandra the seer, tried to warn people about the future she was
laughed at, called crazy, and disbelieved. Abuse and shunning were Cassandra’s curse
for speaking the truth; yet she was not silenced. She felt compelled to speak even if no
one believed her. Rather than telling my friend Cassandra’s sad story, I summarized,
for her, a version of a fairy tale whose title I do not remember. The story is about an
angry witch who poisons the town well to get revenge on some, real or imagined, insult by
the king. The people of this kingdom after drinking the water from the well became crazy.
Since the king and queen do not drink from the community well they see clearly that the
people of the kingdom have lost their minds.
For some reason, perhaps wanting to fit in, the queen goes and drinks from the community
well. The people of the kingdom by now label the monarch as crazy since he is the only
person acting as if he has good sense. The king, although he realizes he is not crazy,
begins to feel the loneliness of being sane in an insane world. A feeling to which I am
sure many of us can relate. Anyway, in despair, the king goes to the well and drinks. I do
not know why the king did not attempt a negotiation with the witch or explore other
alternatives. I said to my girlfriend, "You have a choice. I know sanity is lonely,
but please do not drink the water."
Throughout history, there are examples of women like Vivian Elliott, wife of poet T.S.
Elliott, being institutionalized, women like author Zora Neal Hurston being scandalized,
and otherwise punished on the basis of articulating the truth or acting independently.
I embrace my crazy woman. Just as black people redefined black, from a deprecating term,
to a term of beauty and pride, I suggest women recognize crazy as a term representing our
clarity, or at least our guts. One crazy woman to another, my advice to you is embrace
your crazy woman because she is your innate intelligence and whatever you do; do not drink
the water.
 
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