Life: A Journey or a Game?

Life is a game. Sorry to slap you with that cold hard reality people, but it’s the truth. In this game, the objective is to have an upwardly mobile career, get married, fill the minivan with 4 kids, invest wisely, and retire rich. If any of those things don’t happen, pretty much in that order, you’re screwed. Worse of all, success isn’t based on skill or intention, but pure blind luck. If you don’t like that, don’t get make at me. I didn’t make up the rules.

Milton Bradley did.

The Game Of Life, as created by the famous game and toy maker, has each player following a predetermined path, and like falling dominos, one after the other comes the career, the spouse and the kids. Players move around the board by spinning a wheel and doing what the cards say. There is only one path, and one set of predictable cards to draw from. The game doesn’t account for wanting to stay single. Nor can you have more than four kids if you want them. And let’s face it, if you fail to develop a quick, upward career trajectory, you are pretty much screwed.

But these are the rules of Milton Bradley’s Life, and it’s a game. Real life is a journey, and it doesn’t have to follow a set path with only a few choices. Unlike the game, The Journey Of Life is fun to play, and completely unpredictable. The meaning of marriage and family is determined by the player. In The Journey Of Life, inwardly mobile trumps upwardly mobile and the winner isn’t determined at the end by blind chance and cash value. In The Journey Of Life, the winner is determined purely by the decision to think like one and to create ways in which everyone else can win too.

If your life looks unfamiliar to the lives around you, be grateful for it’s uniqueness. We should feel blessed every day for the opportunity to choose our own path and live on our own terms.