FORMAL COMPLAINT: THE FOOL’S OFFICIAL STATEMENT REGARDING RECENT MISREPRESENTATIONS OF MY CHARACTER
To Whom It May Concern (and I mean everyone, really, because apparently my face is on cards everywhere now),
I am writing this letter with my quill—which I just found in my pocket, how wonderful—to address a troubling trend I have noticed among humans who pull my card from their little paper decks and then use me as an excuse for their decisions. Specifically, the decision to quit things. I am not okay with this.
Let me be very clear: I am not afraid. I have no idea what is about to happen. And that is precisely the point that everyone seems to be missing.
People look at me—this little figure with my tiny bundle and my cheerful step and my cliff that is totally not a cliff, just a very dramatic downhill path—and they say, “Ah yes, The Fool. Time to take a leap of faith.” And then they quit their jobs. They leave their relationships. They abandon their projects. They say, “The Fool told me to be brave and jump.”
But here’s the thing: I am not jumping. I am walking. There is a world of difference, and I am frankly exhausted by the confusion.
Let me explain my situation. I am standing at the edge of what everyone calls a cliff. But from where I stand, it looks like a gentle slope with some very interesting clouds near the bottom. I have not looked down. I will not look down. Looking down implies that I understand that “down” is a concept that applies to my current trajectory, and I simply do not have that information. I am blissfully unaware of gravity, drop-offs, or consequences. I am not brave—bravery requires knowing a danger exists and facing it anyway. I simply have no clue what is happening.
So when humans pull my card and say, “Time to be a fool and quit everything,” they are misunderstanding the assignment. I am not quitting. I am continuing. I am walking forward because I have not yet processed the concept of stopping. The cliff is not a stop sign to me. It is just more path. The fact that the path ends in a misty nothing is irrelevant because I have not read the map.
Do you understand how offensive it is to be used as an excuse for quitting? I have never quit anything in my entire existence. I have never started anything either, technically, but that is because I do not understand beginnings and endings. I am simply… moving. Always. Forever. Into the void with a smile.
People say, “I’m quitting my job because I need to be like The Fool and trust the universe.” But I do not trust the universe. I do not distrust the universe. I have not formed an opinion about the universe because I have not yet noticed that there is a universe. I am too busy looking at the little flower I just picked and wondering if it tastes like happiness.
If you want to be like me, do not quit anything. Just keep walking. Do not make decisions. Do not weigh pros and cons. Do not even acknowledge that pros and cons exist. Just put one foot in front of the other and hum a tune you made up three seconds ago. That is The Fool energy. That is the real message.
I am filing this formal complaint because I am tired of being blamed for people’s life choices. You did not quit your job because of me. You quit your job because you had a thought, and then you made a decision, and then you acted on it. I have never had a thought in my life. I have only had feelings, smells, and the occasional confusing sound from behind me that might be a dog or a warning.
So please, stop using my card as an excuse for your exits. I am not a symbol of bravery or faith or leaps. I am a symbol of someone who does not know that there is such a thing as a symbol.
In conclusion, I am not quitting this letter. I am just going to keep writing until my quill runs out of ink, which it just did. How delightful. Now I am off to see what happens when you walk into a cloud. I am not afraid, and I have no idea what is about to happen.