You may have met many eccentrics who behave in a way that is unusual and different from normal people. Some people have lost their jobs because of their eccentric behaviour. Others manage to live in harmony with normal people. Before delving into eccentricity, let us know something about eccentric people here and elsewhere.
When Sarah Bernhardt fell ill, doctors advised her to give up acting. However, she returned to the theatre as soon as she was able to leave her bed. One of her admirers asked her what kind of gift he could send her. She said, “They say I am to die, so you may send me a coffin.”
A week later a well-known coffin maker informed her that he had received an order to make a coffin according to her wishes. Sarah told him that it should be made of rosewood with handles of solid silver – later changed to gold. For the remainder of her life the coffin never left her side even during her travels.
She had a trestle made on which the coffin stood at the end of her bed. The arrangement enabled her to see it without effort on awakening. She said, “This would remind me that my body will soon be dust and that my glory alone will live forever.”
Pyrophobia
There was an English poet named Gray who had an abnormal terror of fire. He got a 65-foot rope ladder with strong hooks which he fastened to a bar across his window. One night some mischievous undergraduates who knew about his pyrophobia shouted “Fire” from his staircase. Panic-stricken Gray threw out the rope ladder and descended in his night dress only to drop into a tub of cold water. A night watchman discovered him and helped him back into his bedroom.
One day a woman who visited the London Zoo asked the keeper whether the hippopotamus kept in a cage was male or female. The zoo keeper told her sternly “That is a question that should be of interest to another hippopotamus!”
Such eccentrics are delighted to be different from others. They can be found in any part of the world. Jack Mytton who lived in Britain in the 19th century owned 150 pairs of riding breeches and 2,000 hounds. Once he attended a dinner party in full hunting costume mounted on a bear. On another day, he set himself on fire to cure a bad hiccup. He was terribly burnt but he said, “My hiccup is gone by God!”
Dr. David Weeks who was fascinated by the presence of eccentrics in society made a thorough study of them. After meeting and questioning more than 1,000 eccentrics, he said, “A lot of people assume that eccentricity is a mild form of madness, but it is not so.”
His study revealed that eccentrics are dysfunctional, but they are happier than normal people. Most eccentrics are likely to be first born or only children in their families. According to him, there are about one eccentric for every 10,000 people.
I found my first eccentric when I was working in a government office in Colombo long time ago. My immediate boss was a middle-aged Chief Clerk who was a strict disciplinarian. He never came late and pulled up those who did so. Our working hours were from 8 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.
One day his boss asked him to stay back for a few moments to discuss something. The Chief Clerk told him, “It’s 4.30 p.m. now and I’m going off.” Off he went and the director did not know what to do. On another day he gave money to a minor employee to bring him a packet of lunch. After some time, the employee returned with bleeding injuries and told the Chief Clerk that he had met with an accident. Ignoring his explanation, the Chief Clerk asked him, “Where’s my lunch packet?”
The world is never short of eccentrics. John Slater who lived in the Scottish Highlands volunteered to spend six months in a cage in London Zoo as a human exhibit. He wanted to raise funds for the conservation of the panda. However, the zoo authorities declined his offer.
Colin Newlove was another eccentric who lived in North Yorkshire. He used to train horses, but one day he decided to train a bull. His friends laughed at him saying, “Bulls can’t be trained like horses.” Being a hard-core eccentric, Colin brushed aside their negative comments. Within two weeks he trained a bull to bow and kneel when he stood astride on its neck.
Yorkshire has produced another eccentric who lived in a crazy cottage with absurd contraptions. He also had a motorcycle fitted with a toilet seat, a little kitchen sink and a toy machinegun. His eyes were alarmingly blue and his red beard made him a grotesque figure. He wore a hat with a white feather and drove an old bus fitted with a windmill. One day, a policeman stopped the bus and questioned him about the windmill. He said, “It is to charge the battery!”
Most people start drinking or turn to religion when they are frustrated. Jack Jonathan was a different guy. He made a large concrete receptacle next to the front door of his house and said it was his tomb. He wanted to be buried in it with a tube coming out of his mouth. He wanted his friends to pour a drink down the tube when they came for Christmas.
Bra warmer
John Ward was a different kind of eccentric. He was a freelance inventor of the unusual. He is credited with inventing the ‘bra warmer.’ He thought it was dreadful for a woman to wear an ice-cold brassiere early in the morning. When the bra-warmer became popular, he invented the musical frying pan and the electric spoon for stirring tea.
Perhaps the most noteworthy eccentric has been reported from the United States. He was Joshua Norton who lived in the 19th century. He declared himself the Emperor of the United States.
He printed his own currency notes which were accepted in shops. He used to wear a military uniform and carried a sword with him. When he died, crowds flocked to the funeral parlour to pay their last respects. More than 30,000 mourners attended the monarch’s funeral. He was considered a harmless eccentric.
Some of the brilliant people have been somewhat unusual people. The celebrated science fiction writer Isaac Asimov said, “When I was six years old, I was standing on the corner gazing up at the sky during a snowstorm. I was watching the snowflakes which were dark against the clouds but instantly turned white when they moved downwards against the buildings. My mother called me into the house and lectured me endlessly, to the effect that I must cease my peculiar behaviour. As I grew older, however, I came to be viewed as an unusual person in a complimentary sense.”
Startling revelations
It is common knowledge that children who grow up in stable families are likely to enjoy mental health. They would be free from disabling neurotic symptoms and they will become self-reliant adults. Such people can form meaningful relationships with others. It is possible that eccentrics do not come from stable families although there may be exceptions.
The academic interest in eccentrics in the field of psychology was first developed by Dr. David Week who considered that an eccentric was someone who deviated from the conventional or established norm.
In other words, an eccentric is someone who is different from the rest of us. However, one man’s eccentricity may be another’s acceptable behaviour. Meanwhile, Dr Week’s experiments have revealed certain startling revelations.
Dr. Week says that eccentrics are healthier than others because they experience low levels of stress. They do not feel the need to conform, nor do they fear failure. Strangely, eccentrics may have something to teach us as far as happiness is concerned. We believe that certain types of behaviour are right for us. Sometimes the behaviour of eccentrics can threaten us.
There appears to be no proof that eccentrics are abnormal people. However, their behaviour is quite different from that of others who consider themselves to be normal. In this respect, Sigmund Freud’s words are of paramount importance: “Every normal person, in fact, is only normal on the average.”
