Ah, April Fool's Day. One of my favorite holidays of the year. The one day of the year where we can all spread confusion and mayhem wherever we go!
You probably think some of us are meek and mild and boring, right? You see us in the grocery store, shuffling along and peering at labels, and you would never imagine that beneath that clueless exterior we're actually plotting to overthrow the world, one prank at a time.
I have to say I can look back proudly at a fine career of great April Fool's Day jokes.
For instance, I remember the year my kids and I safety pinned my husband's socks together, so when he sleepily pulled them out of the drawer, they pulled out in a long line. I still laugh remembering the time I froze bowls of cereal and milk overnight and placed them casually before the kids in the morning. "Here's your breakfast," I said, to watch their faces pucker in confusion when they tried to eat. Or the time I served up ice cream "sundaes" for dessert which were actually mashed potatoes with gravy. Ah, the good old days!
You have to be careful, though. One year I took a rubber band and rigged the sprayer on the kitchen sink to go off when the next fool turned on the faucet. Unfortunately an hour later I forgot and sprayed myself, to my family's great amusement!
As a teacher, April Fool's Day at school was always great. Every year I'd switch around some of the students' desks, including their name tags. Their reactions when they sat down and opened their desks were always priceless! Of course, there were the students' pranks, too. Little kids mostly did the "Your shoe's untied!" or, "There's a spider on your back!" I'd play along, of course. "Oh, no!" I'd say, and innocently look, and they'd screech, "April Fool!" in delight. But you have to watch out for those tricky older kids. Once a student approached me with a covered cage and said, "Guess what! I brought my pet ferret to school!". When he opened it, a fake ferret on a spring flew out at my face. Once I climbed back down off the ceiling, I had to laugh. Good one!
You know what? I think we're way past due for an April Fool's Day.
Just watch the news. There in those airless halls of power are a whole lot of people who've forgotten how to laugh with each other. They've forgotten how to lean over and whisper a joke or send a cross-eyed emoji to make someone snort and get glared at by the guy at the podium. No wonder they've sunk down to droning lies and pointing fingers. They've forgotten how to look at each other like real people.
And it's not just our leaders. It's all of us. We're all far too busy criticizing the folks on the other side of the fence to stop and take a deep breath and start a conversation. All around me, I see a country that's desperately in need of a poke in the side to wake up and turn down the heat.
We're facing so many of challenges - urgent, life and death problems we've got to tackle. But what if we stop taking ourselves so seriously and start treating each other like neighbors again? Maybe if we can start to laugh together a little more, we can start tackling our problems together.
So here's your chance. Go ahead! Change the kitchen drawers around. Text your kids that you've dyed your hair orange. Put the clocks an hour ahead. Put googly eyes on a few apples in the grocery aisle. No mean tricks, now, but anything else is fair game.
Let's go out and change the world, one laugh at a time.
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