Life isn't Monopoly or Chutes & Ladders...It's Trouble
and Jenga… If you're going to compare life to a game, you'd better
get it right or you'll be deeply frustrated and unsatisfied…And you’ll definitely, “lose”.
Accumulation as in Monopoly is society's big lie. If you've done it enough and stopped and thought about it--You've
realized the joke is you...And inevitably all those little houses you worked so hard to collect are actually vacant
and all that money you made isn't worth the little colored paper it’s printed on anyway...
If you find yourself saying, "I feel like a million bucks!" Newsflash,
a million bucks ain't nothing in today's economy...Does this mean you feel like nothing? It might. It's not too
late to feel better and step outside the hollow economy you've sweated to serve.
The game of Chutes & Ladders
revolves around you bypassing your challenges...Zooming past all of your problems and moving through life avoiding all
the pain. Until you slam into the bottom of reality and realize you can't pleasure your way to value. If you stay
on the slide, you will end up at the bottom, in the pit of crisis. This can be a good thing, if your approach is to
re-evaluate (most of us seem to crash before we change our ways, but it's not some kind of universal law, either).
When it's time to climb out, ask for help, but also understand that you must do the climbing...But this ladder climbing can
be tricky, too. Sometimes you climb a ladder, getting a little exercise in achievement--Or is it skull crushing?
Do you use people as your ladders, utilizing their lifeless carcasses to make it to the top because that's where
eagles fly?! You know what? It stinks up there. There's broken eggs and bird shit and all kinds of parasites
and useless items collected to form a seemingly safe nest that is nothing but a precarious cage dangling from the peak
of false security. It’s also hard to breathe and you will freeze your ass
off. There are a lot of cold bastards at the top.
Now if you want to Sherpa them down, build a fire and talk some sense into them, that’s a different story…
Monopoly and Chutes & Ladders are games that are inherently designed
to self focus, accumulate and actually avoid life...Games like Trouble and Jenga are much much different…
In Trouble, your goal is also
destination oriented, but the tribulations are not hidden and the journey is paramount to the value of the game. The
solutions are not easy. The rewards are given throughout the journey. You are often stepped on, jumped, and sometimes,
you are even cut a break. Ruthless decisions are up to you. As are sacrifices. You are forced to look
ahead and act now. Most of all, there are many times when you simply have to start over.
Jenga is more of a game on HOW you should choose to live.
Slowly...Thoughtfully...And with balance... Imbalance in one area can cause everything to collapse. You have to
spend some time searching for the right piece to make your move (most of the things you truly value in life take a little
bit of time). It helps to be quiet, to focus… You can often feel
which pieces will work and which will not. If you act too fast, you will not feel and everything will crumble.
You must also deal with everyone else's imbalances. And of course, they will pile on top of you and you must find a
graceful way out from under everything. When you do lose, and everything has fallen around you, you must pick up the
pieces and start over.
Yes, the goal is upward, but there is no "top" and you can only rise to
victory one step at a time.
- David J. Sperling
September 2006
