I began this ode to April with two quotes. Both will bring alive some very positive emotions. April is a promise that May is bound to keep." - Hal Borland. And "April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go." - Christopher Morley
April is a cousin of October because while the temperatures are somewhat the same, the mood is a far different thing. This month also has a day dedicated to fools and no other month can or wants to do the same.
It happened on April one, 1976. An astronaut made a startling radio announcement about an extravagant celestial moment that was going to occur. As reported, the planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, causing a gravitational alignment that would counteract and lessen the Earth's own gravity.
Astronaut Moore further explained that if people were to jump in the air at the exact moment that this planetary alignment took place, they would experience a strange floating sensation.
At exactly 9:47 a.m. it was reported that well over 1000 people left mother earth and without any other means of levitation jumped in the air and remained air borne. One woman claimed that she and 11 of her friends rose from their chairs and floated around the room.
It was an April Fool's joke!
Con artists build on impossible dreams and prove time and time again that a fool is really a fool. And students of all ages try to prove one can get an education without studying — and that's no joke.
As I further took on the subject of fools I decided to make a list of foolish things we all have done, sometimes more than once.
- Eat crisp, brittle cookies in bed and then grumble all night long because you can't get to sleep because of the crumbs.
- Tell a white lie to make someone feel better. Sweet. but lies sometimes have a way of catching up with you, even sweet ones. Remember also that silence is golden.
- Make yourself as sick as a dog by eating too many sweets.
Having named some foolish things to do may I close with some wisdom thoughts. Confucius once said there were three ways to learn wisdom: “First, by reflection, which is the noblest; Second. by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience which is the bitterest."
There are wise things to do that can be real fun.
- Ask where the museum (or best museum) is when you visit a town for the first time. One of the best is the Boston museum.
- Eat fresh fruit.
- Work at ridding yourself of a prejudice.
I do have one thought that needs underlining any month in the year: be wise enough to let the other persons do the talking. You'll learn a lot and save yourself from saying some foolish things. To ask more questions than issue statements really is wise.
Whatever you think of April, out of all of the months, its one great specialty is that it creates rainbows growing out of the ground. For that is what a garden is.