Game of Dice

Life is after all a game of dice. At times it makes you crawl ahead slowly and steadily. Then suddenly, comes a big move and leads you to a ladder that would take you 10 steps ahead in the game. Hop skip and jump. You more than happily take that leap, not really knowing what lies ahead. And then just as you take two more steps ahead instead of one or may be three, a long, fat and green snake appears waiting to eat you up and drag you right down 30 chances backward. What would you call it? A problematic life, because a snake ate you up and put you 30 spaces backward? Or would you call it an exciting game of ladders and snakes because you saw how it feels to climb a ladder and get swallowed by a snake as well? Or would you term it as that one never ending adventure that generates an adrenaline rush in your body, mind and soul with a new twist each day.

A few days back I thought of writing about ‘fear’, because I was evaluating the different kinds of fears that can influence a person’s behavior, belief, morale, life and so on. Have you ever thought so much negative magic this thing called ‘fear’ contains? It has the power to turn the most able person in to a real dud and can make a hiker step back just 5 steps before reaching the summit. Its magical. Though not in a good way, it indeed is some kind of magic. But then what is this ‘fear’ thingy? A fear of losing something or someone, fear of dying, fear of not achieving something, fear of being laughed at, fear of falling and not being able to stand up again… The list is endless. But when I thought about it a bit deeper, I realized that it’s not about fear. It’s once again a game containing several chances. You win some and you lose some. Some steps take you ahead and some bring you back to where you started it all from. Just like a game of dice.

One of my favourite authors, in his book, has beautifully explained how one loses all the gold he has and then comes back bankrupt to realize that he wasn’t really so, because of what he was made to save. He has also described how we all go running around the world in search of all that we desire. We live our entire life for hunting that unseen treasure which we so fondly long to possess, just to find out at the end of our life that it exists nowhere else, but in the backyard of our own house. Such is life. All like a game of dice which you keep playing until the end and then realize that you finally ended exactly where you started. But in the process you lose a lot and gain a lot as well. What you gain depends purely on your ability to accept the changes that occur in the process and the teachings that you receive and absorb on the way. What you lose, similarly, depends on your awareness about yourself, the surroundings, and your ability to understand what is good and what is bad, your opinions about each person, place and happening.

Life actually depends on how you roll the dice and how well you play the game. It has got nothing to do with the snakes and ladders because the game doesn’t really change for anyone. It’s the same for all and always. What differs is perception and perspective.