05 January 2010

A New Olympics

Games mirror life in that they require some mix of skill and luck and have uncertain outcomes. One reason we love games is that that while we may be unable to predict whether we'll win or lose, we know what game we'll be playing when we're done.

By contrast, the game of life has uncertain rules and we may find ourselves playing a game we hadn't started out in. A man eager to show how smart he is may soon find that he is, instead, playing the game of how gracious he can be. A person who thinks that life is all about making money may suddenly find herself playing a game of soul searching. Life has a funny way of changing the game on us and it is not just that we can't predict whether or not we'll win or lose but even what game we'll be playing.

So, I propose a new kind of Olympics, one that more closely mirrors life. Figure skaters will find themselves suddenly sprinting and archers will find themselves performing the high dive. It will - as with life - be a test of one's ability to adapt to something one did not sign up for. We'd call it, "The whatever life throws at ya'" Olympics. Or something like that. It might just be the best reality show yet.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

But to make it just like life, the ones that don't win are sentenced to a lifetime of tedious drudgery.

Allen said...

A most interesting concept, Ron. Only problem is the new Olympics wouldn't really be "The whatever life throws at ya" because it'd still be scripted, unlike real life which mirrors those Nationwide insurance television commercials titled "Life comes at you fast".

Unknown said...

The person who comes in 3rd might also win just because he knows the race judge...