Fools? Not Just in April

Even though I try, I don't know what motivates people to do things I'd never do in a million years.  There are at least 3 billion people swarming the globe now - most likely, the number is much bigger - and a lot of them are doing things this very instant that I find unbelievably odd.

I had lunch with friends a couple of days ago.  Ubiquitously, silent HDTVs were showing scenes of extreme skiers helicoptering to the highest, most vertical peaks of craggy mountains and then shooshing down at breakneck speeds.  To add a dash of extra sizzle to the experience, they were doing cartwheels and flips - on purpose - off of cliffs, over treetops and down avalanche chutes.  Surfers were launching themselves down the faces of enormous black-water waves that rose up out of the ocean like sea monsters.  Just to pique their fancy a bit, the surfers would zigzag up and down the faces of the waves.

Skiing is not odd, nor is surfing.  But, skiing down a 60-degree slope on two very slippery planks of breakable material attached to molded bowling balls on your feet is so far beyond the bounds of ordinary in my life that I can hardly cope with it.  It's daring and exciting to a life-threatening degree, but not odd.

Odd behavior, though, goes more to just plain goofiness.  Like Guinness Book of World Record kind of stuff.  That guy who held his breath underwater for 17 minutes on the Oprah show was odd.  The guy who built a platform on top of the highest building in our town, above the flagpole, and skated around in tiny circles for as long as possible definitely was odd.  He was up there for three days, is what I've read.

Gettin' the girl is usually the motivating force for most of male behavior, but it doesn't explain everything.  What girl would be attracted to the guy who swallowed 75 goldfish?  Or the guy who decided to fly away in a lawn chair with balloons attached to it as his mode of transportation.  No plan, all action.  

The man gets a wild hair, a nutty urge, an irresistible impulse and launches himself out of a cannon or sits in a chair with dynamite underneath it to see what it feels like.  Who knows....I guess an April Fool is born every minute because there never seems to be end to silliness.  Spring is in the air every day for them.  Trouble is, they interpret "spring" literally and leap into situations that they may or may not survive, and all we can do is shake our heads and wonder.  Happy April 1 to every fool out there.  You make me laugh, and I definitely appreciate that, though I'd never return the favor in the same way, thank you.