More Odd People

Jen and her mother have both blogged about odd people or "those" kids. I have known very many such people. I spend a lot of time in nursing homes, mental health facilities, etc. I even worked at the state mental hospital many years ago, though in an office on one of the wards. One day we, the office staffers, were invited to go on an outing with the residents (we called them patients then) to the local zoo. So I went. We were standing around in a large group when I noticed some of the folks walking toward the lion and tiger house. One after another got in line and soon there was a long line of people walking across the park. I went with them (not particularly trained to deal with mentally ill people) and we all looked at the big cats. That was probably 40 years ago and the zoo still just had the cats in indoor cages, not like today where they have places to roam outside. Anyway, I figured it was time to go back to the bus so I started some of them back that way. One man stood there awhile and I wasn't sure if he was one of the group or not. I didn't want to offend someone by implying such, so I just announced in a rather loud voice, "It's time to go back to the bus now." He turned and followed the others! When I think back about this, why in the world didn't some psych tech accompany me? I went with a group to the Air Force Academy one time, too. It's amazing how uninhibited you feel when you know that the public will excuse your behavior because they think you're one of "them". I loved working there and it carried over to my love for other "odd" people.