There are moments in life when wisdom wears the mask of folly. Times when the sharpest mind must dull its edge, when knowing too much becomes a burden too heavy to carry. In such moments, you learn that sometimes you have to play the fool not out of weakness, but out of strength born from understanding the game.
I’ve worn that mask before not because I didn’t know better, but because knowing better didn’t serve me. I played the fool to preserve peace, to spare hearts, to buy time. There’s an art to pretending you don’t see the knife hidden behind a smile, to nodding when the air drips with insincerity, to laughing along when every fiber of your being resists.
Playing the fool is not surrender; it’s survival. It’s letting them think they’ve won, letting them underestimate you, while your mind sharpens quietly in the shadows. The fool listens when others speak carelessly. The fool watches when others boast of triumphs yet unearned. The fool endures because endurance is power.
But playing the fool is also sacrifice. You swallow your pride, knowing that dignity doesn’t always require display. You become the storm’s calm center, absorbing the chaos but never losing yourself to it. You become both observer and actor in a play only you fully understand.
There’s freedom in not being taken seriously. There’s strategy in allowing others to believe they have the upper hand. And there’s strength in choosing silence when words would only give away your next move.
Sometimes, you have to play the fool not because you are one, but because wisdom often walks in quiet disguise. And when the moment comes, when masks fall and the truth stands bare, the fool will be the last one laughing.
By : Jide Adesina Extract
Extract from Tales of destiny December, 2024
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