While many countries, religions, etc. have holidays that they recognize, this weekend we celebrate one that is pretty much universal. Although it’s not an official holiday, April Fools’ Day is celebrated in just about every country across the globe.
April Fools’ Day is a day to play a prank or practical joke on a friend, family member, coworker, or even a stranger if you’re brave enough. Once the deed is done, you proclaim “April Fools” and the joke and the person it’s played on become an April Fool.
In the spirit of this fun tradition, we are going to examine fool in this week’s Weekend Word.
fool
fo͞ol/
nounz
1. a person who acts unwisely or imprudently; a silly person.
verb
1. trick or deceive (someone); dupe.
adjective
1. foolish or silly.
Oftentimes when we think of fools, we think of them as unwise, silly, and quite possibly inferior. Many stories, songs, paintings, sculptures, etc. have referred to the character of the fool. Whether it be the guy who let the girl get away, the jokester who never took anything seriously, the person who got duped by the people around them, the fool has been the subject of many famous and well-known works of art.
While at one point these people all may have done something foolish, or been fooled by someone – does that inherently make them a fool for life? Or can you escape the fate of being branded a fool by simply changing your actions?
In its noun form, this definition seems too absolute. As if someone who acts unwise or imprudently is, and will always be, a fool. Don’t be fooled by this logic. If you find yourself in the position of playing this character, know that you are the author of your own fate and you can change it!
There’s a popular quote circulating on the internet… Some say it’s a proverb, others attribute it to Warren Buffet.
“What a fool does in the end, a wise man does in the beginning.”
If this is true, then both the fool and the wise man are capable of achieving the same results with the right mindset, tools simply by taking action to change their fate. While you may be the April fool in someone’s joke on April 1, don’t play the fool in life. Go out and achieve your dreams. Something we remind our students all the time – It’s not too late.
With Love,
Cristen
