“A fool sees not
the same tree that a wise man sees.”
William Blake
Dia das mentiras - “The day of telling lies” that is what
the Portuguese call April fool’s day. Now, the 1st of April is long
gone, but foolishness will remain for as long as there are humans. Foolishness is
a vice. I cannot be convinced otherwise. Foolishness is something the world can
surely do without, but hey, we are stuck with fools and their foolish
behaviour. It is as the Maori proverb say: “Fools do foolish things.” The
problem is that there are people who, at times, enjoy foolish people much more
(because of their silliness), than they do wise people (because of their wisdom).
It is equally sad that there are even some clever people who, after finding
themselves too long in the company of fools, easily become foolish themselves,
and a knowledgeable fool is a greater fool than an ignorant fool. This makes me
recall a striking Welsh proverb that says that a spoon does not know the taste
of soup, nor a learned fool the taste of wisdom. George Eliot (Novelist) struck
the nail on its head when saying that wisdom hears but half the applause in the
vain laughter of foolishness. Yes, the dullness of the fool is indeed the
whetstone of the wits. Charles Spurgeon (Evangelist) said that to know is not
to be wise. Many people know a great deal and are all the greater fools for
it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use
knowledge is to have wisdom. Always practice good sense and judgement, and
remember, there are limits to behaving comically. Let me end today by reminding
you that it doesn’t matter how big a fool may think he/she is, there is always
a bigger fool to admire him/her and to add to that, a fool and his/her words
are soon parted from each other.
So you think that
being a fool is very cool?
Let me tell you
something about your folly…
Step down from
that pedestal and maybe you’ll see
that your folly is
but a disguise for your melancholy…
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