April Fools Day: More Important Than You Can Possibly Imagine

April Fools Day has come and gone once again. This is a holiday that, more than any other, I always end up wishing I had taken more time to prepare for. Every Halloween, Christmas, and New Years Resolution contemplation I have similar feelings, but none of them top the wonder that is April Fools. It also makes me wish that I worked for a company that encourages this holiday, like Google or Wikipedia. It is a day that makes us second guess the media, question the government, disbelieve what our friends say on Facebook that we normally assume to be true. April Fool's throws away our complacency in our daily routines, for one day, anyway.

Instead of just one day, April should be the month of fools. If you don't prank someone before lunch, they will know not to believe you because they have already been pranked by someone else. It will spread the magic across thirty days, and you will be forced to think more critically about the things you are told. This year, I successfully convinced one of my friends that I was dropping out of school to go into the priesthood. The other people I tried it on, did not believe me, but if I had a whole month to do it, more people would believe the things I tell them by April 14. By the end of the month, people will demand citations, and proof that their claims are true. If nothing else, April Fools will make people think twice about the so called "journalism" that is really just right-wing biased opinions on a story that uses the "fair and balanced" slogan to cover up the lack of factual reporting that is done on Fox News every day of the year.

According to Wikipedia, (which I am not sure I can believe anymore because it said yesterday that the Rusian Federation was consolidating time zones so it can be more efficient, and that a Japanese company is investigating the disappearance of some of its employees who were sent back to the year 1999) April Fools has it's origins in the Middle Ages. Chaucer mentioned a day where people played tricks 32 days after March. This would actually be May 1, but many readers over the years have mistaken him for saying March 32, which is sort of like April 1. The most intriguing explanation comes from The Simpsons.

The internet has really done a great job of keeping this wonderful holiday fresh and relevant. I wonder how many people from Tokpeka, Kansas woke up and were stunned to see that their city was being honored by Google and that they would soon be called Googleians. April Fools is a holiday far too often overlooked, but the nerds who control the internet certainly keep it entertaining for those of us who like it.

It is my hope that if you read this blog post, you will realize why April Fools is necessary. April Fools is like Harvey Dent. It is not the holiday America deserves, but it is the holiday America needs. Halloween is the Batman to April Fools' Harvey Dent. It is darker, scarier, and tries to achieve the same objective, but with much different methods. The two divide up they year. Both trying to save society's rationality by making us absurd for a day. Honor April Fools. It is more important than we know.