Crazy

Why are we so fascinated with crazy people? Okay, I know that "crazy" isn't politically correct. I also realize that I can not speak for everyone. Perhaps you, dear reader, have no interest in crazy people. But anyway, I do, and it's something I need to think about...

I'm currently reading Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane, which is about a mental institution. My favorite movies of the past week have been Gray Gardens and Uninvited. My best girl friend is thinking about becoming a psychologist. One of my favorite exhibits in Colonial Williamsburg is a restored mental hospital. You see, I always make fun of psychology. Or psychological SCIENCE, as its proponents like to call it. But the truth is, I find it interesting. I love the idea of defining what kind of crazy people are, especially people who seem outwardly indefinable.

Why do we love to hear about, talk about, and read about crazies? What is it about people who have snapped that so interests us? I have a few theories, but truth be told, I don't rightly know.

Maybe it's because everyone's afraid they're a little crazy, and hearing about people with bigger problems than themselves provides some evidence that they're stable. As in, I might be a bit off, but at least I'm not crazy like that person. Do we need people so far away from the accepted norm in order to prove that we're closer to the norm than we think?

My other theory is that we are always fascinated by things we don't understand, like when I met a computer hacker once. I don't understand how computers work, and I stared at the poor guy in wonder for five minutes straight. Maybe it's like that. This makes sense to me, because I always try to put people in categories, little mental compartments. Someone who is so far out of my abilities to categorize rolls over and over in my mind until I find a way to make them fit. We don't really know much about how the mind works in a sane person, so how it works in an insane one is beyond our sphere of comprehension and categorization. There is another possibility, as I see it...what if we're worried that the insane ones are the only people who really understand the way the world works?

Just a little something to think about.