Optimists Are Not Fools

Yesterday, I played a little April Fools Day prank. I posted on www.IrishFireside.com that we had sold the website to the Irish government for 1.2 million euro.

I tried to make it as far-fetched as possible… an extraordinary amount of money, a goofy tourism official complaining about not having enough brochures and finishing the whole post with me jet setting to Idaho.

The reaction from our Irish Fireside audience was what one would expect for an April Fools gag, “You had me going,” “Good one.” All in all, readers were entertained and many couldn’t believe they fell for it… even if only for a few paragraphs.

The response from friends and family was quite different. Many of them believed every word. Within five minutes the first phone calls and emails began, “Did you and Liam REALLY sell the Fireside?” “How many dollars is 1.2 million euros?” “I am so happy for you.” They not only believed it, they fell for it hook, line and sinker.

At first I felt embarrassed. In truth, I’ve never been a fan of gags and pranks; I hated when they were played on me. Now, there I was at the center of giant joke… with some of the dearest people in my life were believing an untruth.

As the supportive emails, calls and Facebook comments kept coming in, I realized something. I’ve got amazing people in my life. As implausible as the story was, they wanted it to be true (and not just because they’d have a millionaire on their friends list). Not only did they want it to be true, but they also believed I had it in me to make something truly extraordinary happen.

That’s quite a compliment. I don’t think I could ask for a more endearing compliment.

Now, I’ve got to go out and make something amazing and REAL happen… my friends and family are kind of expecting it