Recent events in my life have had me considering the nature of reason. It can mean the cause or explanation or justification of something, or the brain's ability to think about or form a judgement of that thing. So, to be able to reason with or about something, that thing must necessarily have a reason or else it's not reasonable. That more or less makes sense.
Things are clear and make sense in definitions. The problem is that people aren't clear and rarely make sense. My reason for doing something may not be reasonable to another and they would be well within reason to tell me so. But if they've lost their ability to reason, is that reason enough to treat them in an otherwise unreasonable way? Does an unreasonable person realise that they're unreasonable? Well the answer, of course, is no, but then how can one be ever sure that one is acting within reason?
I've found lately that people who are acting perfectly reasonably given their own situations, are resulting in me either acting unreasonably or fighting my own urges very hard in order to prevent myself from acting unreasonably. Because I cannot know their reasons, I have to reason for myself and inevitably twist myself in knots trying, and failing, to make a reasonable attempt at reasoning with them.
The conclusion? It's impossible for any reasonable person to remain so, even if their reason is sound. The world and its inhabitants are inherently unreasonable and whilst attempting to help is wonderful, it leads to madness. And ultimately for no reason at all.