Life Is Like A Chess Board
The Pawn
Many of us probably see ourselves as the pawn (props to those who look in the mirror and see the ever-capable Queen staring back at you). Pawns are relatable. We usually start out at the bottom of the totem pole and are faced with the proposition to work our way up. There are a lot of casualties along the way, a lot of discouragement and we witness a plenty of contenders dropping like flies. Because as we all know, when a pawn reaches the other side of the board, it becomes the Queen, the MVP. Most of us strive for greatness, but it can be tough for the meager pawn to make its way past all the more able-bodied giants to the other end of the war-zone. At the end of the day, we have the choice between mediocrity and persistence. We can either get captured, or we can be the pawn that gets transformed into a Queen.
The Knight
Watch out for the people whose moves don’t seem to make any sense! They often have a better idea of where they are going than the ones whose actions seem more predictable and structured. The knights in life have a method to their madness that no one else can see or understand, but you better believe it’s the secret to their success – they’ll sneak right up on your unsuspecting hide from two squares down and one square over and become your biggest competition. Never underestimate the dreamers – that’s got underdog written all over it.
The Bishop
One minute, someone is halfway across the world from you and the next minute they can be right on your front porch. Unexpected things happen every day. People come into your life for seemingly no reason. They can be good or they can be bad, but it’s our job to figure it out and learn from them. Because just as quickly as they came, they can be gone in a heartbeat.
The Rook
The straight path can only take us so far. Sometimes we hatch a plan and stick to it religiously. We cling to it for fear of getting thrown off course or getting lost in the mix. We don’t want to be unsuccessful, so we go straight through grade school to high school to college, we try to find that job that’s going to pay well and maybe have us set for life. Or at least comfortable. Comfort is the religion of the straight path. That’s not to say that school is bad or that paying jobs are bad. Both are great. But it is to say that the straight path can only take us so far, and sometimes we have to venture down a side road every once in a while just to see where we end up.
The Queen
Sometimes in life we make a mistake that forces us to lose something we didn’t think we could function without. But what ends up happening is that we do function – it may take a while to get the hang of it and to adjust to the loss of something important, but in time we learn how to pool our resources together and make it work. It may not work as well as our initial plan, but it teaches us how to think outside the box,
The King
Sometimes we just need to learn how to stand up for ourselves. The thing that always annoyed me about the king in chess is that it is so valuable and yet so completely useless at the same time. The object of the whole game is to protect this helpless lanky guy who just sits in a corner and get bullied. Ultimately, the king would be too hard to capture if he were able to glide around like the Queen does or jump over things like the Knight. No one would ever win. The only enemies he can take out are the ones naive enough to get right up in his face. Let’s not be like the king. Let’s win some respect and stand up to the bad guys.
At the end of the day, life is a game. There are strategies you pick up along the way and some players are more skilled at it than others. We all learn. But in the end, win or lose, it’s all about enjoying the game.