If you have to choose between hanging out with a crazy person or a mean person, pick the crazy one. Seriously. They are way more fun. Sure, they might not make sense half of the time, and their ideas will most likely be off the wall and completely implausible, but they are much more likely to love you, have fun with you, and support whatever endeavor you are currently engaged in, even if what you yourself are doing makes no sense.
Mean people, on the other hand, will tell you that what you are doing is not good. They will judge you. They will tell other people that you are stupid and living your life in an incorrect manner. When you see them you will be greeted with criticism and annoyance. Life will not be more fun when they are around. They will drag you down with their eyerolls and cutting remarks.
But we can’t get totally down on mean people. Come on, they actually make a lot of sense. Perhaps you shouldn’t have gotten that haircut. Maybe your life would be better if you would just grow up a little and get a real job. Who knows? If you took all of the advice that mean people gave you, would your life be greatly improved? If you would just be more like them, wouldn’t you be happier?
No. You would not. Because are they happy? Obviously not. If they were happy, they would not be so mean. You know who is happy? Crazy people. And I don’t mean people with serious mental illnesses, although they can often be very happy too. I am talking about the people who do not see the limits of this world the way the rest of us do. The people who do not realize that crushing defeat has just been handed to them. The people who press on in the face of ridiculous odds, and encourage you to do the same. These are the people that you want around you.
History looks much more favorably upon the crazies than the meanies. Some famous crazy people? Walt Disney. Albert Einstein. Dr. Seuss. Some famous mean people? Richard Nixon. Mel Gibson. Hitler. I think if I asked who you would rather hang out with, Dr. Seuss or Hitler, we both know what you would say. And of course some people are both mean and crazy, and these are the people to completely avoid altogether when you are looking for support. I’m not saying Charlie Sheen specifically, but you get the idea.
So surround yourself with the happy and crazy, and rid yourselves of the mean and depressing. Take chances. Live your lives the way you want to, and don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t make a million dollars selling motorized lemonade stands to kids. Those people are jerks.