Every Friday, I’ll post thought provoking discussion starters.
—
I was going to post some quotes about April Fool’s Day, but I can’t. I don’t want any of us thinking about or discussing the quotes I found. Just a sad and disgusting perspective on people. Friends are worthy to be fooled. You can’t hurt anyone. You get the picture.
What do you think? Is April Fool’s Day harmless? Harmful? Does your motive matter? For instance, if you played a joke on someone, but you didn’t want them hurt by it, would that make it okay when they were hurt?
If those questions don’t interest you, how about discussing these quotes? There’s much here worth unpacking.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (Proverbs 1:7)
“A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother.” (Proverbs 10:1)
“The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.” (Proverbs 12:15)
“A wise man fears the LORD and shuns evil, but a fool is hotheaded and reckless.” (Proverbs 14:16)
I fail to see the humor in lying to someone and then ridiculing them for believing me. Or going to the trouble of arranging the humiliation, injury or at best inconvenience of someone and finding it hilarious that they trusted me. There is something very broken in that.
Maureen, thanks for weighing in. I really like the way you worded your concerns. “Broken” is a perfect word.
I am not a big fan of April Fool’s day or practical jokes in general. I so don’t like being teased. Some of the April Fool’s jokes by little kids can be kind of cute because they tend to be ridiculous, but when the motive is to show how gullible someone is, I really don’t like it. No one really likes being made a fool of. I never quite understood why it was ‘gullible’ of someone to believe what someone else says. Aren’t we supposed to want to be able trust others? Don’t I want others to see me as a truth-teller? Once you start being untrustworthy with your words and motives, it’s hard to get that trust back. I guess I’ve learned that at least on the 1st of April, I question anything anyone says to me. The humor escapes me. As for ‘what if someone get hurt’, that’s been a difficult lesson over the years with my kids. It’s easy for someone to gloss over hurt or destruction by saying, ‘well, it was an accident!’, or ‘I didn’t mean to ‘, my response is always “it’s good to be sorry, but sorry doesn’t make it all OK”. We have to teach our kids to THINK ahead and contemplate the possible consequences. The same goes with ‘jokes’. Could someone be hurt? Could their feelings get hurt? Might this damage something? I don’t think much real thinking goes into most practical jokes.
Hallie,
I really appreciate your complete thinking. I’m glad this is important to you. I’ve seen that adults do have to earn back the trust of their children even after “jokes” because our word is supposed to mean something. Keep up the good work!
My children asked me why I do not like “tricks” on April fools day. We told them that playing tricks on people is never kind regardless of what day it is and it should not make you feel good to embarrass someone else. It is too easy to hurt someone else’s spirit. After explaining how we felt about it, I told them that ultimately it is their decision what they choose to do with that information. Of course, they still thought it would be fun to play tricks on one another on April fools day. In doing this, someone did get their feelings hurt and they all decided that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to play tricks on people. Apparently, they do listen to us! However, I doubt they will ever admit it. Thank you for your post Kathy!
Thank you, Jessica, for talking with your children about important things like this. Fabulous!
Proverbs 26:18-19 – Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows and death, so is the man who deceives his neighbor, and says, “Was I not joking?” You are right, it is not okay to hurt someone and then say that, “I was just kidding.” Students are usually surprised to see this verse in the Bible, when pointed out, because it seems that this behavior and this excuse is so common.
Thanks, Ruth. Those are GREAT Bible verses. I’m thrilled you’re sharing them with children. Wonderful!
April Fool’s jokes fall in the same category as those Christmas parties where everyone brings a gift and you spend the rest of the time taking them away from each other. I just don’t get either one of them.
Terri,
That’s funny! Those Christmas parties can make me nervous, too.