At the risk of sounding cliche, ordinary life in Jerusalem often becomes extra-ordinary. I would guess that 40% of the population here even believes life is extra-terrestrial. Another 40% believe that they themselves are extraterrestrials. That means the other 20% are normal people, right?
Enter the Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule). This principle states that "80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle). For example, you spend 20% of your day accomplishing 80% of your tasks. Twenty percent of the world owns 80% of the wealth, 20% of this blurb contains 80% of the pertinent information and so on. You get the point.
If we apply this principle to the population of Jerusalem, I have to believe that this final theoretical 20% actually exhibits 80% of the craziness. Actually, all prattle and joking aside, Jerusalem is seriously the dwelling place of some of the most--how to put this nicely--"interesting and colorful" people in the world.*** The "Jerusalem Syndrome," as it has come to be called, is real. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_syndrome). Some tourists claim to be prophets or think they are prophets from the past (Elijah is a popular choice). Many come to the Holy City and are mesmerized. I have met so many colorful people, I have come to the hard conclusion that every person living in Jerusalem is in fact crazy at some level, including myself.
Since I have self-diagnosed myself, it is difficult for me to judge exactly how crazy the rest of my environment is. I can only tell you how a group of us cope: we participate in moderately insane activities. Usually, this means we leave Jerusalem and head for the Judean Desert where we undergo quasi-survival training. On one dark and rainy occasion, a former Turkish military officer and a former Israeli soldier disputed over which wadi to follow in order to escape the desert slosh.
Other times, we have hiked through incredibly forceful wind that caused us to walk more diagonal than upright. We have drunk tea in bedouin tents, climbed atop Herodian fortresses where ancient mosaics can still be found, and made coffee in secluded caves overlooking an ancient monastery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar_Saba). Visited Israeli army bases? Check. Grilled burgers overlooking the Dead Sea? Yup. Packed Ben & Jerry's ice cream in suffering heat? That, too. Gotten lost? More than once.
These therapy tours always result in many crazy stories, and ironically they are what keep many of us halfway sane. Here is a youtube link chronicling some of these adventures as well as one trip to the Galilee in case you still don't believe me.
***"interesting and colorful" is a term employed by my pastor to describe many who visitor our congregation that meets in the heart of Jerusalem as we indeed meet many colorful people.
