Analogies . . .

Since Childhood, all of us have at some point of time (or many points) been asked to write an essay on "importance of sports". At times we have wondered why is it that we like to hear/read.see stories..Why is it that performing arts are so appreciated?

To me, these past few months of semi-solitary exisatance have been a tme of a revelation, a coming of age of sorts.I find myself revisiting a lot of things taught at school, at home, which as children, we couldn't quite appreciate for what hey meant. Here, now, I see them through a completely different looking-glass and they suddenly seem to have a 3rd dimension to them, a depth, menaing, cimplexity I hadnt been able to see before.And I find myself drawing parallels between each one of these things and the concept of one;s Lifespan itself.

You pick up a book, a story. it starts with an introduction of its characters & their circumstances. It goes on explring their interactions, creating new situations, but all with an eye on the climax. The writer's attempt is to set things up during the ciurse of the story such that everything is falling into its rightful place by th etime te plot reaches a logical conclusion. You retrace this effort of his, expriencing the emotions in the manner the writer wants him to, as the story unfolds from its introduction through to the end. You put the book down, satisfied, if the pieces are all in their places by the end.

Pick a sport, any sport, or rather, any sporting contest. The whole event has a well defined objective. The players and spectatores are all a bit aware of the skills involved, but none knows exactly ow much each player has brought to the table on that day. And so the contest begins, invariably, with the players testing this out in their own ways. Then, a time comes when they are sure of their situations, and the next phase - the struggle for ascendancy beigns. Each player tries to leverage his skill and the situation to get to a position from wher he can exercise the full p[otential of his game to gain a decisive advantage. This leads to the end-game, often a frenzied battle, where in the winner is he who has utilised his skill and available situations better.

Now you look at a man's life. We start unaware of ourselves, our surroundings, the characters of our story and the charateristics tat will shape us. Our childhood, our eduxation is "the introduction". Its our chance to explore our potential & limits. We then enter the second phase, we try to set ourselves up for a good life when we have grown old, and spend the middle phase of our lives setting pieces up so that the puzzle solves itself by the time its time to lie down. At the end of all the frenzy of planing, saving, spending, all the rat races, he who has used his skills and circumstances better, finds himself at an advantage. He calls himself a "winner" in the game of life. His life is termed a "success story" ...

But all said and done, there's the question : who wrote the story? who judged the contest?

It is HIm. It is his stories we are living out as our lives. Each one of us has a different version of the story, was He trying to create on prefect story, and decided to experiment with all different versions He could come up with, or is all this just a RPG for Him.. I dont know. He has laid out hte path for us, and given us the means to walk it through. He has given us all a chance to play this game of life, and played another trick.. the illusion of control .... it is He who controls us all, yet makes us beleive we are the actors. He plays on our behalf, even though the instruments are in our hands.

His is the will that shall be done.

So, the next time you find someone talking about "the game of life" or somebody's " life-story",  you know better ... ;)