A fool on April Fools

When April comes around each year, I find myself naturally thinking about great pranks in history.

One theory on the origin of April Fools’ Day states that it came about in the 1500s. When France switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, New Year’s Day was moved from late March to January 1. People slow to hear the news or who continued in celebrating the old date were mocked as “April fools” and became targets of jokes and pranks.

Many theories have been proposed over the years. The exact origin of April Fools’ Day is not known. The April Fool’s Day prank though has been consistent throughout history.

Popular pranks have range from the harmless like tying a friend or co-worker’s shoes together or hiding plastic spiders in drawers of people in their workplace to complex pranks involving social media. Two pranks jump out at me: I pulled off one on my son and the other was so good that I would’ve fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.

–The best prank I ever pulled was on my youngest son. When he was in high school and wasn’t as appreciative of his mother and I picking him up after band practice as he should’ve been, we decided that we needed to give him a small attitude adjustment. Yes, we felt that we needed to prank him. We started working that night on our idea.

His school’s marching band was going to be making a special trip to Six Flags Amusement Park in New Jersey. I created an official looking letter stating that he had missed too many days of school without proper parental approval. As a result, he would have to miss the trip. I placed the letter on school district administration stationary. I forged the Superintendent’s signature and mailed the letter from our local post office.

The knock-off looked legitimate if I say so myself. Yes, yes, it was devilish on my part, but a lesson is still a lesson!

I got the first inkling that things were working as planned when my son sent me a text. He said that he got a letter in the mail from school and wanted to talk about it that night. Now I’m horrible about pranks. I can’t keep a straight face for the life of me. This time, though, I was committed to playing the prank all the way through.

When I got home, he was livid. He kept repeating over and over: “How dare them.” He was furious that the school was going to keep him home. He worried about being kept home all because of a stupid clerical error.

Oh, I would’ve loved to let him stew all night about the letter. However, my wife and I didn’t want to spoil his fun. We wanted to teach him a lesson that was all. When he came down for dinner, we told him that we were behind the letter. Oh, he claimed right away that he knew.

“I knew it. I knew it. I knew it.”

His actions though showed otherwise. And yes, he was much more respectful and considerate of us.

–The prank that worked too well. The other prank that I always think about wasn’t an April Fools one. It actually happened on Halloween Night, but goes down as one of the best to ever be pulled. On October 30, 1938, The CBS Radio Network ran a live broadcast of The War of the Worlds. Orson Welles directed and narrated the adaptation of H.G. Welles novel. The broadcast incited a panic. It convinced members of the listening audience that a Martian Invasion was actually taking place in Grovers Mills, a small town in New Jersey.

A rapid series of fake, but real-looking news updates detailed the beginning of a devastating alien invasion. The military tried to stop the invasion, but were futile efforts to stop the invasion. The radio show was peppered with reminders that it was a theatrical production, but it still caused widespread panic.

Martians are coming, martians are coming.

We have all kinds of prankster nowadays. We hear stories every day about scammers and spammers. Let’s hope none of us fall for them. I will say this though. If The War of the Worlds were to air today, I can say without much doubt that I would be caught up in the prank like a deer in the headlights.

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“A man who trusts everyone is a fool and a man who trusts no one is a fool. We are all fools if we live long enough.” —Robert Jordan

“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” —Soren Kierkegaard

“The young people think the old people are fools — but the old people know the young people are fools.” ―Agatha Christie

“Fools impose. The wise inspire.” ―Maxime Lagacé

“Any fool can criticize, complain, and condemn—and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.” —Dale Carnegie

“Everyone gets scared at times. It’s only the fools who won’t admit it.” ―Jennifer A. Nielsen

“You will rarely make wise decisions if you surround yourself with fools.” ―Rasheed Ogunlaru