Good morning, reader! Isn’t it gorgeous out there today? I love it when it’s sunny. It also helps that Ash and I had one of our best friends stay over last night. When we got up this morning I said the “Another beautiful day in God’s country” line from Hot Fuzz, which got me a slightly worried look from my friend and a reminder that our teeny tiny flat is not an actual country. Unfortunately this turns out to be true.
So today is April Fools’ Day, a bizarre tradition which apparently originated in Roman times and has something to do with New Year’s Eve being celebrated in March by our friends across the Channel. I don’t have any particularly strong feelings about today, probably because at our age my friends and I don’t have the time or inclination to think up witty pranks. I’m definitely not complaining about that; life is confusing enough as it is without my friends thinking of ingenious ways to baffle me further. I’m not even supposed to cross roads unsupervised, for heaven’s sake.
Besides, feeling foolish is not something that’s restricted to this day of the year. Nobody likes to feel that they’ve been duped, but it’s all part of the human experience. Sometimes we feel that we have been deceived into taking a job that turns out to be nothing like we expected, or misled by someone else’s feelings for us. Deceit is a horrible word for something that happens all the time, whether it’s a friend telling you that an horrendous outfit is flattering, or a woman pretending to be knocked up in order to get a man to marry her. (I’ll let you decide for yourselves which is worse.) Making the discovery that you’ve had the proverbial wool pulled over your eyes is demeaning and downright irritating, because we’re intelligent people who want to be able to see the truth first time.
Like regret, fear and the inability to cope with emotional upheaval, we are reassuringly united by our dislike of being deceived. I find it weirdly comforting that some of the hardest parts of being a person are universal, and that feeling isolated by your fear/regret/etc. is unnecessary. If I had a pound for every time I’ve felt like an idiot I would be living in a mansion right now, but unfortunately embarrassment is not a financial commodity. What I do have, which is much more valuable, is a fantastic group of friends who will sympathise, empathise and make me coffee when I feel humiliated.
You’d be surprised by how many of the smartest, best-looking, confident and talented people you know have wanted to curl up and die at some point. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that someone who seems sorted doesn’t understand how it feels to be foolish, and don’t be embarrassed to admit when you’ve been had. You’re still a fantastic human being, and no one else’s trickery is going to change that.
Have something delicious for pudding today. You deserve it.
P.S. the title of this blog is a reference to a song by General Fiasco, a band whom I heartily recommend you give a listen to. Here’s the YouTube video of the song. Enjoy!
SarcasTickled 