Minilogue - May 2006
Get In The Game
When I was in high school, we used to play a game called “boomerang” in gym class. Basically, boomerang was a primitive version of dodgeball; there were no teams and no boundary lines painted on the hardwood floor, just a couple of volleyballs tossed randomly into a mob of adolescent boys by the gym teacher, who then stood back to watch the pandemonium, with a whistle clenched between his grinning teeth. It was a perfect Hobbesian war of all against all, with every kid left to fend for himself. The rules were simple: if you were hit by a ball anywhere in your body you were OUT (unless you caught the ball before it touched the floor, in which case the guy who threw it was OUT). Early in the game, when the floor was still crowded, it wasn’t unusual for a single throw to ricochet off two or three players, sending them all to the sideline. Or for a popular target to get hit simultaneously by three balls thrown from three different directions. Most of the damage occurred in the first few frenzied minutes. Before long there were only a few survivors left, stalking each other across the open expanse of the gym floor, feigning and dodging and hurling balls at each other until someone got hit and there was only one “man” left standing. The Winner! Then the whistle would blow and we’d start all over again.
While some players plunged recklessly right into the melee, my strategy was always to hang back, to make myself as invisible as possible, to stand aside and W simply watch the action until most of the players had been eliminated. Then, when the odds seemed a little better, I’d step up and take my chances. I won my fair share of games using this approach, but there are times when I think I might have missed out on some of the fun. Perhaps boomerang is not meant to be a spectator sport. You have to get into the mix to really enjoy it.
Some people maintain that life imitates high school, that we spend our entire adult lives revisiting and recyclying themes and issues that first emerged during our adolescence. I don’t know if this is true, but I do know that over the years I’ve learned the value of “getting into the game,” of entering wholeheartedly into life rather than standing on the sidelines in an attitude of critical detachment. Sometimes this requires a little extra effort on my part, since I’m naturally an introvert, and putting myself out there means venturing beyond my comfort zone. But when I take the risk, I’m almost always glad that I did.
Life is a lot more complicated and infinitely more interesting than the game of boomerang, and it presents opportunities for cooperation and community building as well as competition. While there are times when it is necessary and important to stand back and reflect, to observe and wait before acting, more often we are called, invited, and needed to participate in life’s great adventure. When the whistle blows, get in the game!