They Said I Was Crazy
- Apr 24
- 1 min read
By Charisse Smith
--
They said I was crazy.
Funny how people use that word
when they don’t understand
a mind that refuses to break.
They saw rebellion
where I saw survival.
They saw anger
where I saw truth.
They saw resistance
where I saw dignity.
They tried to write my life
in files and diagnoses
as if a human soul
could be summarized
in paperwork.
But here’s the truth.
A crazy mind
doesn’t keep fighting
when the whole world
expects it to collapse.
A crazy mind
doesn’t survive foster care,
courtrooms,
hospital walls,
separation from children,
and cancer
only to stand up again
and keep moving forward.
And yet here I am.
Graduating.
Two degrees this year.
A third on the way.
Still learning.
Still growing.
Still proving something
they never understood.
Because my mind
was never broken.
It was curious
like Mozart composing music
no one else could hear yet.
It was brilliant
like Einstein questioning
the limits of what people believed
was possible.
And it carried a heart
like Newton’s apple—
falling, yes,
but always discovering
something greater
in the fall.
They called it madness.
I call it resilience.
I call it faith.
I call it refusing
to let the world
decide who I am.
Because the truth is simple:
The same woman
they tried to silence
is the same woman
walking across that stage
to receive her degree.
And that moment
will speak louder
than every lie
ever written about me.
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