An Insanity Epidemic?

On Tuesday night, for homework, we researched different definitions of insanity. My personal favorite was one by Benjamin Franklin, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” At first I laughed at this unusual definition as I thought to myself, “you would have to be stupid to do the same thing repeatedly, and expect a different result each time.” But, upon further contemplation, I realized that on numerous occasions, I have done just that. Take, for instance, my family’s yearly tradition of Black Friday shopping. Every year following Thanksgiving Dinner, my mom and I sift through the hundreds of newspaper ads in search of ridiculous bargains that we want to pursue at 4 am the following day. We typically find about 15 items that have piqued our interest enough that it seems worthwhile to brave the cold weather and wait outside various stores until their doors open. Although I do enjoy the mad dash to desired department of each store, the yelling and screaming of moms and children still dressed in pajamas and the diving into various buckets for small bargain items, I must admit that year after year I have a hope that the lines outside the stores will be shorter. To my disappointment however, the lines only seem to get longer. I have no idea why I believe that the number of crazy shoppers would possibly decrease from one year to another when that has not been the case the past five years. Am I insane because I expect a different result? Last week, the night before our first basketball game, I asked my mom if she would mind washing my game socks. She said that it would not be a problem, so I assumed that the next day I would have socks for the game. As I was packing my bag, five minutes before picking up a teammate, I asked my mom where she put the socks. “Oh, they are in the washer. I washed them, they just need to be dried,” she innocently responded. Somewhat annoyed that she did not understand “washing” meant drying as well, I raced up to my room in search of a pair of clean socks. I kindly asked my mom if next time she would dry them too, and with that, I was out the door. As the night before our second game rolled around, my mom yelled upstairs, “Em, I’m doing dark laundry. Would you like me to wash your socks?” I immediately said yes. Once again, as I was packing my bag for the game, I noticed my mom had again left my socks, cleaned yet wet, in the washer. Am I insane for assuming that when my mom said for the second time that she would “wash” my socks, I expected them to be dried as well? As I think more and more about the application of Benjamin Franklin’s quote in my life, I start to wonder about my sanity. If I experience numerous instances of doing the same thing repeatedly, and expect a different result each time, do others have similar expectations? If so, could Franklin’s implication be that all people experience insanity? Now I am really confused. 

Black Friday line outside of Circuit City

Familiar scene at Target on Black Friday