Is surviving cancer more like a game of chance or a game of skill? It makes a difference.
As any devoted game-player knows, the balance between chance and skill influences the player's strategy. Chance determines whether you land on Boardwalk or pass Go, but skill allows you to decide when to buy, sell, or build hotels. Boggle begins as a game of chance--you shake the cube and the letters fall randomly, and everyone has the same set of letters to work with. But the player who possesses a large vocabulary and the ability to form order from chaos has a distinct advantage
I'm good at Boggle--frighteningly good. I know I'm just as subject to the whims of chance as anyone else, but I've honed my skills to the extent that I'm confident that I can overcome any setback, from a vowel-free throw to an excess of X.
But games of pure chance stymie me. I don't win raffles or door prizes--ever. I don't play the lottery because why not just flush my loose change down the toilet? Faced with a game of pure chance, I tend to throw my hands in the air and give up. If nothing I do can influence the outcome, why bother playing at all?
So here are two distinctly different approaches to playing games: focus all my skills on overcoming the setbacks sent by chance, or give up and hope for the best. Which one is right for this situation? Unless someone can tell me what sort of game I'm playing, I'm afraid I remain a bit boggled.
1 comment:
If having a large vocab helps you rise above any hand the Boggle Gods might throw you - then the same could be said for surviving cancer. You play the hand you're dealt with the x's and no vowels. It's the knowledge you have to overcome those Boggle hands that help you push through.
Be an informed patient - expand that vocab and hone your ability to make order out of jumbled up letters. Use the time you have to visualize the letters forming high-score words, take some deep breaths and then transcribe them onto that score sheet. Then smile as you rack up points.
You're a master of words, a vivacious participant in the world of letters. That's why you're scary-good at Boggle. A fairly accurate assumption is that no one wants to the be a "Cancer Master;" however knowing any game is a big part of winning it. Know the game - read the rules in Spanish on the other side of the page. Look for cheat codes and tricks on the Internet. Get the Boggle dictionary and read it from cover to cover.
Then understand that chance plays a role in everything - and hope for the best. That's what we're doing.
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