When I was in junior high, I dreaded Saint Patrick’s Day. I had no idea who St. Patrick was, just that the day would be an occasion when I had to let my peer’s dictate how I dressed myself and, in effect, force me to choose sides in a senseless religious war involving two factions of a religion that means nothing to me. Choose the wrong side — or try to stay out of it altogether — and suffer physical and verbal abuse.

And then, just a short time later, along comes April Fool’s Day. I’ve always been troubled by April Fool’s pranks. Often, an effort is made to come up with a gag that is as believable as possible. When someone falls for it, the prankster jeers “April Fool!” If the victim raises any objection, the prankster berates the victim as humorless (for an example, see the discussion at www.dukecityfix.com). Perhaps there are superb pranks that leave everyone laughing, but I think many April Pranksters are simply bullies. Maybe, as Halloween institutionalizes extortion and vandalism, April Fool’s gives us one day to not only lie with impunity but to revel in it — but that’s every day of the Bush Era.

I’m sure each of us has failed to get a joke from time to time. We all seem to forget that when someone doesn’t get our jokes. But, when a joke falls flat, it may be best to keep moving and let it go. If you have to berate someone for not getting it, it’s no longer funny, if it ever was. mjh