The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

Foolish Ways Of Thinking

by Dessa Rodeffer
Quill Editor and Publisher

4 April 2001

April Fools Day..... has never been my favorite holiday.

For one thing, I usually have my serious hat on and am always ready to apply my knowledge to statements that are directed to me.

Practical jokers just throw me off guard. So, it is understandable that I don't care for April Fools Day.

I don't want to be telephoned that I have won a million dollars when I haven't, told I look like a movie star when I don't, and I don't want to be told that I am having special company for dinner then find out after preparing a feast, that I'll be eating alone.

It just doesn't strike me as funny.

What I do like, in a foolish way of thinking, is a few Jeff Foxworthy tapes of light humor, a mild TV session of David Letterman, Jay Leno, or Mash. I wouldn't even mind supper at our friends, knowing the men always are teasing us about something.

These kinds of things are expected, so I am on guard, but April Fools jokes are strictly on my pet peeve list.

Growing up as the youngest of three brothers, I had enough kidding for a life-time. Although, I liked my brother Gary's teasing at bedtime, because it prolonged my having to go to bed, I would have enjoyed a serious talk with them now and then.

It is pretty scary to me about some of the students who have been overly harassed and teased that have made suicide attempts on their lives or have shot at students who have bullied them at school.

I don't mean to spoil the party, but I do believe too many jokes aren't funny, and unkind words with an after statement of "I was only kidding" can hit harder than you know.

I heard this week about a college student from Colorado who attempt to take her life with an overdose of pills after hitting a low at school.

Having met this lively and beautiful girl when she stopped in the office for a short visit when she was visiting the area with friends, I could hardly believe she would try to take her life.

But, it made me think about how fragile some lives are and how we might add to their distress.

Instead of a steady flow of foolish statements we say we don't mean, wouldn't it would be nice to practice giving compliments and words of encouragement instead.

People we meet do a good job of covering up their struggles, and it may take only one comment to make their paper-thin cover-up tear apart.

What may seem like a teasing comment to us, could be the undoing of a wonderful person, just because of their fragil state of mind.

We need to be in tune to the personality we have developed. If it doesn't lift up others, or encourage them in some way I would say our "foolish way of thinking" could be a knife in someone's back.

Personal jabes and teasing never makes a person feel very good. If you hear a foolish comment that cuts someone down, do everyone a favor, and don't laugh.