Thank Goodness It's Monday #402

JUST FOOLIN’ AROUND

WITH THE PARADOX OF FOOLISHNESS

did you know: They took “gullible” out of the dictionary?

This fun, date-appropriate image
is actually the logo
for the very bright people who created
the Twelfth International Workshop
on
Foundations of Object-Oriented Languages
in 2005

I’m just April Fooling around here, of course.

And that’s about the level of April Fool’s Day joking I like to engage in.

Plain old trickery or hidden-camera pranks that make someone look ridiculous have never seemed entertaining to me.

The trouble is: The complicated and open-to-debate “history” of April Fool’s Day would indicate that, at least in some ways, my view is the exception, not the rule.

On the other hand: The 21^st Century world of broadcast and digital tech and social media – the very same one by which this TGIM comes to you today – seems enamored with the April 1 opportunity to appear (and actually quite often be) clever for a world-wide audience.

So the TGIM Dilemma on this April-1-falls-on-Monday is –

Is there a Takeaway or two or three in this paradox of foolishness?

After that big setup, you gotta know I think there is.

I’ve noticed that not a few lessons in my life are accompanied by a feeling of foolishness. We all know such moments.

• On a small scale you ask where the Men's Room is, only to find you are standing in front of it.
• On a grander scale perhaps you misunderstand or misremember critical factual information and boldly and intractably argue its rightness in an important public forum.

Feel foolish – or worse?

You bet. When, in my know-it-all smugness, one of life's mysteries, small or great, is uncovered for me, I invariably feel embarrassed although I’ve gained new knowledge.  The truth was so obvious I feel painfully foolish not having seen it before. Surely everyone else knew this and has observed my willful ignorance with some humor, if not distain.

But hold on a minute. We routinely risk appearing foolish when we reveal our authentic selves.

We take this risk when we try something new

… when we say the thing no one else is saying

… when we expose our vulnerability, perhaps by anger or indignation or tears, in public.

We take these risks any time we commit ourselves to an idea or ideal or dream we are convinced of.

Appearing foolish is difficult for us in our “humanness.” When we say, even just to ourselves, we feel foolish, this usually carries a negative connotation. We mean that we feel embarrassed by our ignorance, our naiveté, that we were caught in a deed or using words not designed for a critical audience.

Truth is: We work hard to appear competent and attractive to the world. Many of our behaviors serve to polish our personas of perfection. Where competence is valued so highly, it can be hard to play with conviction but sometimes be revealed as the fool.  

APRIL FOOL’S TAKEAWAY #1: Don’t give up your foolish ways.

In many of Shakespeare's plays, the Fool is actually really smart – and the only person who tells it like it is.

Facsimile of the first page
of As You Like It
from the First Folio,
published in 1623 

"The more pity, that fools may not speak wisely

what wise men do foolishly.”

Touchstone, the court fool,

makes that complaint to the Duke’s daughter Rosalind

after she instructs him to stop talking

In As You Like It, Act 1 Scene 2

It is because the Fool exists somewhat outside the bounds of societal norms and expectations that he (or she) is so powerful.

Occasionally this character may be a simple, uneducated, or witless commoner or peasant. But, precisely because this version of foolishness does not have the guile to hide behind a polished persona, he has the ability to speak the truth in a way that a character of more noble standing cannot.

The Fool can also take on a critical role closer to the privileged nobility; say, of the Court Jester. That gives the character the opportunity to speak aloud the unspeakable in the presence of the king. And, in part because he is a clown, he can/may not be taken seriously (although he is often insightful) and is less susceptible to punishment.

 

“That, of course, is the great secret of the successful fool – that he is no fool at all.”  Isaac Asimov, no fool he, posited that in his Guide to Shakespeare.

APRIL FOOL’S TAKEAWAY #2: If it’s inevitable that we’re to appear foolish, it would be wise to play a Shakespearean Fool.

The Shakespearean Fool is more than just a funny and brutally honest guy.

►He's also loyal – a trait that, in our foolishness, we should all embody if we want to effectively speak truth to power.

►The Shakespearean-level Fool is also a risk-taker. But not in a calculated way. There is selflessness, an ego-less-ness with which this archetype counsels the mighty with awareness of, but little regard for, personal peril. And so in that way playing the Fool can be –

►An act of personal sacrifice for the group. This is the person who is foolish enough to put himself at the center of a perhaps tense situation, to express the shared ignorance, to seem incompetent so that the group as a whole can feel, and perhaps be, stronger.

In a similar vein, the Fool we can emulate may be the person who risks being –

►Outgoing and friendly in a new situation so that others can feel welcome, wanted and included. In the extreme he may even be willing to be the butt of a joke so that everyone can have a chance to laugh together.

►Being successfully foolish also allows learning to happen. We often hear “There are no stupid questions.” But we seldom act as if that was a given. Recognizing that human failing, a clever Fool may take the lead and ask aloud what others are holding back.

It does not really matter if the inquiry stems from the Fool’s ignorance or a sense of the need to get further clarification for the benefit of others. The point is, although foolish on the face of it, the act of questioning and receiving additional insight has advanced many further down the path of growth and knowledge than they might have attained had not the foolish question been asked.

Finally, although in the beginning of this TGIM message I slammed a good deal of it –

►Look at all the creativity that blossoms in the springtime of April Fool’s Day. Why do we stifle that in the “normal” process of getting through the other 364 days of the year?

It may take great courage to stand by the aspects of your true self that might come across as foolish in the context of your daily routine or buttoned-down business community or the correctness demanded by your social circle.

But remember: When you come to those aspects of your life that make you individual … distinctive … memorable … that set you apart from all others, this is that place where you are creating something truly new, truly unique with your own life.

“We're fools whether we dance or not,

so we might as well dance.”

~Japanese Proverb

APRIL FOOL’S TAKEAWAY #3: Cherish this novelty, this innovative process in yourself. Encourage and enable it for others. Work to make a safe place for the Fool to live in; the Fool in each of us, and the Foolish Others whose behavior can show us a previously unseen part of who we are together.

No foolin’.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S. “The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.” Winston Churchill said that.