Short Stories

Why They Jump

While life has many things to offer, lots suffer from hard to comprehend situations that no one wants to feel. That is all but those who have gone crazy willingly. Like that man who ran away from a hospital last week and was found on my property two days ago.

I remember what he said before he walked off the cliff to the left of my house. It was a warm day, in summer, and I mean warm. Not too hot or overwhelming, but no breeze either. For Africa this is common, but a man who disappeared from a mental institution in Canada to show up here, on my cliff wasn't.

I recognized him from the national TV station, his light gray beard barely long enough to reach his neck and his wrinkly forehead was a dead giveaway.

I asked him what he was doing and reached for my telephone as I watched him look out into the vast open field, my endangered species program permitted me to keep such a large area for my cheetahs to roam freely. But what he said, it made me drop my phone and think, maybe I should let him jump.

"People no matter how much they say they do- don't understand. And they never will. I know that much, but I had hope in humanity. Until all my efforts were in vain. I tried to be noticed, I tried to get others to understand that I needed help and I couldn't do it alone. Instead they took me to a mental institution and said I could never be cured. But how can they say that when they don't even know what was wrong with me!? They're liars. All of them. I can't believe I tried so hard to make a difference and they decided to mark me up as mad and chuck me away to rid of a burden to them. The life of someone turned crazy is rough, because they think people won't know what they mean but they try anyway. But did they know we who are crazy are right? There's a choice we all make when we near this situation, get help or go with it. But the price of going with it means they don't understand you. I chose the life a mad man to help those who were still in their right mind. Because I cared about the world and they didn't. I wanted to have a better life but I can't do it alone. It's a team effort. Did you know we sacrificed sanity to understand the world in a new way that bi one has been able to do? And when we succeed we know that it's because those who call themselves normal don't think like us. So I tried to help. I'm not crazy anymore. But I still understand every bit of it. Right down to why they jump." After his long speech he turned to the field again and leaped over the edge with such agility.

His words shocked me and I didn't have time to react before he was gone. I looked over the edge but he wasn't there again. He disappeared from Canada, and now he's disappeared from Africa.

I wondered what he meant. And I tried it for myself. He's right, no one with understand us. Humans think wrong, they haven't tried to look at things through someone else's eyes. I think they should try. Try to be crazy.

And we'll see how the world changes after that.