“Who’s your daddy?” While often used as a schoolyard taunt, it’s actually legitimate question of illegitimacy. After all, a university study concluded that up to 1 in 25 fathers are unknowingly raising another man’s child.

I love my mom, but my world flipped upside down when I learned my dad was one of those 4%. It was even more bizarre because I was good friends with my half-sister and half-brother and saw my biological dad on a regular basis. I was too blind, too naive, and too trusting to ever think anything different.

Scenario 1: A homeowner in an gated community in Arizona forgets to turn their sprinklers on before going on vacation for a week. They return to a scorched lawn and a home owners association (HOA) fine for $50 tacked to their front door. The offense: not keeping their lawn beautifully green.

Scenario 2: A member of a african village in or around the Sahara desert gets the novel idea to plant some beautiful bushes outside of their sleeping quarters. He returns one day to angry villagers cursing his name and threatening to uproot his bushes. The offense: wasting precious water on a non-essential decoration.

Ahhh April Fools Day. That yearly tradition of hoaxes, pranks, joke, and other mischief. Even large companies, notoriously straight-edged for fear of causing a stir and offending customers, play along and sometimes go to extreme lengths for a good joke.

I have a hard time believing that you would sit idly by if you knew a company was intentionally scamming you out of your time, money, and other resources. Yet we all let our fears, worries, doubts, and other conscious/unconscious beliefs to rob us daily of our happiness, creativity, and peace in life. What a paradox! Knowingly steal $200 from me and I'll have you arrested. Knowingly destroy my happiness for 2 years and I'll just drink my sorrows away because I believe something crazy like "I deserve it" or "I had it coming."