Object Lessons

or

You can beat Sam but you cannot humiliate him.

As promised, here is my story:

Sam was back. Filled with his typical arrogance Sam swaggered into Top Shelf on Friday. His arrogance is well founded and has been rightfully earned. But from time to time i feel the need to impart a lesson unto Sam, and Friday's lesson was in humility.

Sam announced there was no chance i could beat him and although i'd give him the win as it means much more to him than to me, so i decided that it would be good to wipe the smugness from his visage. In this effort i succeeded. Unfortunately in the process i went on quite the ego trip myself and it was my time to fall.

As well you know FNM is played in a best of three format. Game one Sam was soundly defeated and the trash talking began. Oh, to repeat the exquisite choice of words, inflection, and condescension but such writing would require grater talent than i possess. I was in rare form and for one was not there, my meager capacity to describe it could never convey the grandeur of the moment. (This is just of fancy way of saying that you had to be there.)

Game two was another story. Here the Gods noticed that i had been made proud, that is never good. Needless to say as any good epic requires dramatic tension, i was overcome in game two so that game three could unfold and the story reach both its climax and conclusion.

In Game three i had Sam soundly defeated very early in the game. In that exact moment we both recognized was was occurring and that i had won. But consumed with pride myself, winning was not good enough. I went for the humiliation of my opponent rather than his simple defeat. This was a grave error. I had failed in every way possible in that moment, but i could not see it. I was consumed with visions of Glory and the adulation that would fallow when the master once again thrashed his unruly disciple and restored order to the dojo.

I had forgotten that this student had long ago snatched the pebble from my grasp and his reach exceeded my own. Filled with hubris, i had forgotten what we were there for. We were there simply to play a game between two friends. One friend need not and should not attempt to humble the other. Friends should rejoice in one another's accomplishments and relish them. Sam needed no more that a brief word in private and by attempting to humiliate him before others i was made humble myself.

Despite the very poor odds of success for Sam with my chosen strategy, he overcame those odds and reminded me once again that i am no longer the protagonist in that story, it is he. I am Odysseus to his Aeneas. (Think Gemmell, not Homer.) I was destroyed. Sam proved that he was the better man.

Had i simply sought victory in the game and not over the man, i would have won. I let pride blind me. It is not common for me to be wrong, but i always try to admit when i am. Here i was wrong. I should have remembered that although i am often the instructor to others now, there is still much i need to learn.

Having been chastened by the Gods i will go forth as a more humble man. Not humble exactly as this is still beyond me, but more humble.

Good Game Sam, and thanks for the lesson.

Later

Bob