What kind of fool am I - Part 1 - A Fool's Paradise

A Fool's Paradise. by P.K.Odendaal - 8 October 2011-10-07

Respect, consideration and patience are vital virtues for the survival of mankind - as are tenacity, resilience and persistence.

And most of use are prepared to throw this all away and go for the sweet vices leading to self destruction.
And so am I.

My strongpoint is that I cannot suffer fools gladly, being one myself par excellence.

You may ask why I cannot suffer fools gladly when I am the perfect fool, and I may remind you that the insinuation is not that only wise men may not suffer fools gladly. Fools may also not suffer other fools gladly.
And most of us including myself are not so sure what a fool really is.

I have heard and read a lot about fools, and I find that they have the following very strange and almost desirable or enviable traits :

• They are born every minute.
• They and their money are soon parted
•  They rush in where angels fear to tread
• They can do with a pound what a wise man can do with a penny.
• They perish while wise men die and both leave their wealth to others.
• They utter slanders
• They do mischief as a sport
• They are servants to the wise of heart
• They are right in their own eyes
• They make their wrath presently known
• Their fathers have no joy
• They are counted wise if they hold their peace
• Their mouths are their destruction
• They all meddlers (I think in the affairs of others)
• They despise the wise words or the words of others
• Wisdom is too high for them
• Those who answer their folly become like them
• There are more hope for them than the men who are wise in their own conceit
• Their wrath is heavier than stone and sand
• Their foolishness will never depart from them
• They trust their own hearts
• They utter all that is in their minds
• Their voices are known by a multitude of words.
• The tell everyone that they are fools (as I have done above)

Wow - Makes you think. Fits me perfectly. So whilst I am a fool - why can't I stand other fools ?

The answer is simple. It is that trait of us that we discern in others that we really hate.

I am starting a Hall of Fame for Non-Fools - so if you are not a fool or know someone who is not, please let me know - that person will be the first entry into that Hall.

Maybe I should conclude with the following apt passage from Shakespeare - Much Ado About Nothing :

Dogsberry : Dost thou not suspect my place? Dost thou not suspect my years? O that he were here to write me down an ass! but, masters, remember that I am an ass - though it not be written down, yet forget not that I am an ass. .... Oh, that I had been writ down an ass!