Life Is Not A Game

Last updated on: May 25, 2017 at 7:37 pm by Henry Karlson

Life Is Not A Game 2017-05-25T19:37:59-05:00 Henry Karlson

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Photograph of the Game of Life by 松岡明芳 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Life is not a game of winners and losers. You are not a winner just because you have money and power, and you are not a loser if you end up poor and powerless. Life is not about how much money you make, how much power and authority you make for yourself. It is not about worldly success of any kind. They might be nice, but in the end, they are nothing.

God does not look down favorably to those who selfishly treat life as a game in which everyone should be out for themselves, putting others down in order to win.

Mary made it clear, those who pursue life with such an ideology will have to contend against God:

He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away (Lk. 1:51-3 RSV).

Those who think getting up on top makes them great will find that such success is worthless. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, said the preacher, and this is especially true for those who see life as a game, where the winners get the spoils of life. They will find God will treat them as they treat others; the will feel abandoned by God because they abandoned him.

It is not that riches themselves make someone evil. Someone can have them, and use them for the betterment of others, and truly then they will find that they have attained greatness insofar as they have loved others and did what they could to help others find their way in life. That is, those who are rich and powerful do not have to be seen as evil. They can do good. They are expected to follow the example of God, who, in his power and authority, directs the world with love, seeking to help all with his bountiful grace instead of withdrawing it from the world.

God fills those who follow him with his love. The rich and mighty will be struck down if they have it all and use it all without love, for without love, they have nothing. Anyone who treats life as a game of king of the hill in which the winner is the one who is on top of the hill pushing everyone down will find that in the end, they too shall be pushed down, that their reign will end, and they will have gained nothing. Without love, without seeking to pick people up and sharing in their bounty, they will find that their temporary victory is hollow, and defeat is eternal. Those who think that life is about the pursuit of money and attaining all they can get is the point of life will find that the money they acquired was all worthless in the end. In eternity, that money will buy them nothing; its value was imaginary.

This is why I find it difficult to appreciate the rhetoric of Trump and his administration. They think in terms of “winners and losers” and treat with contempt anyone they classify as a loser. Clinton did not win the election, therefore, she is a loser. Some poor mother is struggling with several part time jobs to provide food for his children; she needs government aid, and so she is seen as a lazy loser. A terrorist blows themselves up, killing others; Trump immediately gets on the air and says that they were losers. Everyone and everything is whittled down to the status of winner and loser.

Not only is this rhetoric unsound, it is dangerous. It is going to be used to justify all kinds of cruelty, not just because losers deserve nothing, because they are losers, but because losers are the people who are deemed equals to terrorists. Everyone who is seen as a loser will be seen as a potential terrorist, because terrorists are losers. Yes, it is an equivocation, but it is the kind of equivocation which has been historically used by authoritarian regimes to squash the lives of those they hate and fear. Losers are dangerous people. They deserve no rights. The winners need to be protected from sore losers.

When the winners are few, and the losers are the multitude, such a program is eventually going to end in chaos. Violence will be seen as proof of the danger that the losers pose for society. The “winners” are going to use the desperation of the “losers” as proof that more authoritarian regulations are needed to keep the losers in check. This is how despotic governments work. They might have some success, indeed, but in the end, all they have attained is momentary success. They will be cast down. Then they will have to face the treatment they have given to others, and see themselves to be the real losers after all.

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