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An April Fools column I once wrote created quite a stir at my desk in the newsroom, on the floor of the Nebraska Legislature and in the hearts and minds of readers, a handful of whom canceled their subscriptions over the printed prank.
While I fancied my piece as the next coming of Sports Illustrated’s classic April 1 story “The Curious Case of Sidd Finch,” the newspaper’s publisher was not happy with me. Nor did my arguing that some people just needed to get a sense of humor lighten the mood. I now keep the fiction I write in books.
Nevertheless, I enjoy an April Fools’ Day shenanigan that brings a laugh or two, even perhaps some joy, to help thaw the last of winter and welcome the hope of spring.
I found little mirth last week. Yes, some joined in the jokes. Baskin-Robbins offered a can of strawberry cheesecake soup. Another company hawked an AI-powered device that smelled your clothes for you to detect if you’re past the wash-by date. According to online traffic, an NBA team, the Washington Wizards, had an April Fools joke fall flat in front of thousands. Surely, too, friends and family punked those they love for a few giggles.
Still, my completely unscientific sense was that the mood just didn’t fit the day … or vice versa. Instead, we marked April 1 with the U.S. Supreme Court deciding to listen to a nonsensical interpretation of the Constitution’s simple, sterling formula for establishing citizenship and a “major presidential address” on the fortunes and future of war, which turned out to be a 19-minute nothingburger.
Even before those events sucked the lighthearted air out of what Mark Twain called “the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four,” we just didn’t seem to be feeling it. An unsettled world can do that, throw water on our aggregate sense of humor … and its cousin … a sense of well-being.
The National Endowment for Financial Education reported that 8 in 10 Americans felt financial stress in 2025 and 77% had some form of “financial setback” last year, too. According to Gallup polling, our pessimism outweighs our optimism about the future when it comes to prices, crime rates, economic prosperity, our ability to get along politically and our place in the world.
Note: That was before we went to war.
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Gallup’s most startling revelation, however, was that only 60% of us predict we will be leading “high quality lives” in five years. That’s the lowest number since they started measuring such things, nearly 20 years ago. All of which means if your April Fools’ Day came and went without much fun or fanfare, chances are you weren’t alone.
Social scientists often place such gloom at the doorstep of social media, where downers can be exacerbated by the exponential nature of the web’s algorithmic beasts. If truth is the first casualty of war — and the internet — loss of perspective must not be far behind.
For example, last week brought a somewhat encouraging jobs report for March amid the stock market’s 8% plummet since the first bombs fell on Iran, fears of stagflation and rising fuel prices. A friend in California paid $7.59 a gallon for diesel last week. Yikes!
While the March work numbers show promise, they follow the worst month of job losses in over five years. Some would argue that is a pessimistic view. Others would posit that we must deal with reality, because the facts are neutral.
However we choose to see economic, political or social happenings, when our trend lines convince many of us that the world is askew, we run the risk of seeing our plights and our futures pockmarked in dark clouds and uncertainty.
As the prayer goes, however, there is light among the shadows. In a democracy it is the people’s right to change direction, primarily via the ballot box but also through the freedoms of assembly, press and speech.
For example, eight million showed up in the streets recently to protest the president and the path on which we find ourselves, a number too large for political leaders to ignore, even those who normally equate the strength and tenor of our voices with the size of the checks we write to their campaigns.
No problem is ever undone unless it is faced head on, defined clearly and solved using thinking different than what caused it in the first place. All of which is available to us, even if our hope has been battered and our humor bruised.
No fooling.
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