Wednesday, April 1, 2020

April Fools Day is every day nowadays

Samuel Pepys
     This is my seventh April 1 writing the blog. For the previous six, I posted some prank. They were fun to write and, I hope, fun to read. Some people were fooled, most people laughed, it seemed worth doing.
     This year not only couldn't I do an April Fools prank post, but I never considered doing it. For a moment maybe. But my heart wasn't in it. Writing a column is a go-by-your-gut kind of thing, and my gut said to write this instead. Apologies to those disappointed.

     Wednesday is April 1, April Fools Day. Were I on my game, this might be a prank column to underscore some ridiculous aspect of our locked-down, social-distancing moment. America at full stop, waiting for the crunch of the iceberg.
     Hats off to whomever pulls off the feat today. I’m not that guy.
     Frankly, reality impoverishes parody lately. You don’t need me. If you want a sick joke, turn on the television this afternoon and you’ll find reality that beggars the imagination. Compared to the daily presidential pratfall, I got nothin’. Every day is April Fools’ Day.
     Besides, deceit stings, even when intended as humor. People have been posting alerts on Facebook announcing a certain state suspending liquor sales — don’t worry boozehounds, it isn’t happening. A jest, yet I silently unfriend the poster anyway. Not in the mood.
     It isn’t that nothing is funny. That deadpan video Mayor Lori Lightfoot made, urging Chicagoans to “Stay Home, Save Lives” (“Your dog doesn’t need to see its friends,” she says). That’s wry — Lori Lightfoot is the Harold Lloyd of politicians.
     Still. When this is over — assuming it ever ends — I don’t want to look back at myself yukking it up as the death toll mounts. I’m not even comfortable giving my own report — boys and wife home, working remotely, all fine. It smacks of obliviousness, of those posts demanding that instead of marking the death toll we should celebrate those who HAVEN’T died. I unfriend them too, thinking of Samuel Pepys.


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4 comments:

  1. Wow, thanks for writing this.
    Mayor Lightfoot makes me glad to be from Chicago, and I didn't realize the magnitude of assholiness underlying that "great diarist."

    Take care and be well.

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  2. As with most disasters, it brings out the best and worst of us. The Governor and the Mayor have stepped up, taken the high road, and are doing all they can for their citizens. Much more than I can say for those in Federal Government. Trump’s not the only one doing harm by what he says. Where’s Bush, Clinton, and Obama? Haven’t they the guts to stand up and tell Trump to let someone who knows what they’re doing take over?

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  3. Pepys is alive and well in the Oval Orifice, hangin' with his peeps.

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  4. Pepys sounds like a narcissistic sociopath, not unlike someone in our news on a daily basis. How could Pepys or anyone pass a plague-ridden corpse on the street and not be affected by it? However, no harm in laughing at a joke during these dire times — though we are sad about folks dying, sure don’t want to become depressed. Want to remain optimistic about the future. Practice safety precautions recommended and do your best to hang in there. If that includes making a joke or laughing at one now and then during this crisis, so be it.

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