Trip To Bedlam

Bedlam is the slangization of the word Bethlehem. It was how the Bethlehem Royal Hospital of London was referred to, a well know sanitorium during it's time. It came to be a word that is synonymous with chaotic insanity.

In the 1700's, you could go and visit the freaks of bedlam. For a penny ( or free on the first Tuesday of each month) you could peer into their cells and walk the walkways, peering down on all manner of craziness.

You might see people performing strange rituals claiming that this was the way to see God. Perhaps you would see someone hoarding some ridiculous items...a handful of marbles, a few bent twigs...claiming this was what was worth working your whole life for. Maybe you'd see Caesar or Jesus or a half dozen others trying to convince themselves and everyone else that they were someone they are not. You could laugh at the inmates as they violently brawled over nothing or tried to find sexual gratification through wild and weird ways. You could even bring along a stick and poke people, just for the fun of it. Sort of like tapping the side of a fish tank, I guess.

Sometimes I think we live in a Bedlam where we can see people working all their lives for ridiculous things, engaging in strange rituals, trying to convince everyone they are someone they are not and so forth.