Today I’d meant to write another essay, but after seeing one of my friends I’ve changed my plans and now want to tell you about him. I have a friend who believes he invented many things in this world, like the colour TV or a sole for a boot. He even claimed that if some people hadn’t come up with some inventions, he would have done it, no doubt. Some of our mutual friends think he’s crazy, while others laugh and say he’s nothing but a daydreamer. I wouldn’t say he’s crazy. He doesn't pull strange stunts like walking down the street naked or attacking people, but he definitely has a specific world view.

Of course, I don’t believe everything he says. Still, since meeting him, I've changed my opinion about some things. In a sense, this guy might be a paragon of free thinking, seeking and allowing any possibility in his thoughts. He has no fear of anyone thinking him insane, and freely shares his — sometimes undoubtedly crazy — ideas with everyone he trusts. What makes him so interesting is his belief that he truly invented some of the things he was talking about, and his willingness to openly argue about that.

So-called “normal” people don’t ever call themselves geniuses. Meanwhile, he talks about his genius as a given. Even so, he doesn’t try to persuade me and everybody else that he's far from senile; on the contrary, when we’re laughing about his craziness, he laughs with us. He has no trouble accepting himself. Yet, in my view, this willingness to be who he is calls for a great deal of courage.

When I was somewhat younger, I must have avoided people like my friend, scared that their madness would contaminate my sound mind, or at least wasn’t that friendly with them. Now I see that there may be a lot of variations of both dreams and what's considered abnormal, and there's a thin line between dreaming and insanity. Dreaming is a behaviour people use to get away from their anxieties and decluttering their minds. Insanity also disconnect people from the world, though in a more extreme way, bordering on irrationalism.

You’d probably think that insanity is a horrible mental illness that strikes only some individuals. When these “special” people become exuberant and wild,  they put them in a straight jacket and send them off to an insane asylum. That’s a  familiar scenario. However, from what I’ve seen, people who insist that they're normal louder than anyone else usually have no idea of their own inadequacy. More than that, they often only manage to create an appropriate mask of normality, while they still have demons of all kinds inside of them. Therefore, I’d rather say that my insane friend is more normal than so-called normal people. Maybe he’s constantly saying weird things, but he is at least open about his situation. At the end of the day, none of my so-called "normal" friends are any less crazy than he is.