The earliest record of April 1 as "April Fools' Day" or "All Fools' Day" goes back to the Canterbury Tales in 1392 although there are different stories as to it's origin. Interestingly there is a view that links it to the Bible. The first day of the Hebrew month corresponds with April; the day Noah sent out his dove too early before the waters receded. April fool can be fun or nasty and disastrous as you read the stories
here. But why I say it can be good is because of this: It reminds us by showing us how important trust for one another is. In subtle human interactions of everyday lives, we depend so much on trust. It is not only in occasions of 'under oath' in a court, but we expect people to speak the truth and be sure to a large degree that they are not fooling us. When I was new in Delhi, I ask for directions from strangers. And I expect them to point me in the right direction if they know. When they don't (sometimes they simply give directions confidently even though they don't know), and point me to a wrong place, I get angry. So when we instinctively expect even strangers to be trustworthy to a certain extent, how much more so, those who are close to us. For example, how important it is in a marital relationship, that one is not cheating on the other; in other words, fooling the other. April 1 shows us glimpses of a world where there is no trust: You never know if what your friend is saying is true or not; you can't trust the BBC (they have a notorious history) or the newspapers (see Times of India today's paper). What would the world be like if everyday is April 1 !
The earliest record of April 1 as "April Fools' Day" or "All Fools' Day" goes back to the Canterbury Tales in 1392 although there are different stories as to it's origin. Interestingly there is a view that links it to the Bible. The first day of the Hebrew month corresponds with April; the day Noah sent out his dove too early before the waters receded. April fool can be fun or nasty and disastrous as you read the stories here. But why I say it can be good is because of this: It reminds us by showing us how important trust for one another is. In subtle human interactions of everyday lives, we depend so much on trust. It is not only in occasions of 'under oath' in a court, but we expect people to speak the truth and be sure to a large degree that they are not fooling us. When I was new in Delhi, I ask for directions from strangers. And I expect them to point me in the right direction if they know. When they don't (sometimes they simply give directions confidently even though they don't know), and point me to a wrong place, I get angry. So when we instinctively expect even strangers to be trustworthy to a certain extent, how much more so, those who are close to us. For example, how important it is in a marital relationship, that one is not cheating on the other; in other words, fooling the other. April 1 shows us glimpses of a world where there is no trust: You never know if what your friend is saying is true or not; you can't trust the BBC (they have a notorious history) or the newspapers (see Times of India today's paper). What would the world be like if everyday is April 1 !
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