Watch Out!

Today is April Fools' Day, and I'm supposed to craft some barely-plausible lie that will leave you looking and feeling like a fool. I'm not going to do that, not least of all for the reason that I never seem to address special days at the right time even if I'm not writing in advance. I never have much enjoyed the occasion for whatever reason, and I would guess that those who know me fairly well are surprised by that.

Those who know me very well probably find that a little easier to believe, though. The thing is that much of what I dish out I cannot take. Deadpan jokes that I level at others are easily deployed against me with devastating effect. You'd think that I would be somewhat the wiser for my experience in using those jokes, but I'm not. Consequently, April Fools' Day finds me all too credulous sometimes if not always.

This is gladly aided by today's media. It's not just your jerk friends from whom you must expect tricks, but those who you turn to for critical news. They, along with corporations who likewise are glad to spread disinformation on this one day, make it terribly perilous to expect any straight information on April 1st. It's probably best to refrain from the attempt all day long if you can help it, and happily this year the date falls on a Sunday.

More useful than this day would be one in which everyone was compelled to be entirely honest for one day. The date could be something like the one from the days of Ancient Rome in which the master became slave and the slave master for just one day. After all, people are deceitful (for comic purposes and other) every day, so there would be something somewhat more refreshing in a day when they would not be. Write your congressman.