In Touch With The Ground, I'm On The Hunt I'm After You, Smell Like I Sound I'm Lost In A Crowd, And I'm Hungry Like The Wolf

--"Hungry Like The Wolf", Duran Duran

Around fourth and fifth grades almost my entire class fell in love with the noble sport of four square. I can't even tell you how many afternoons were spent in the pursuit of just one more game, just one more turn through the line, just one more minute spent out on the four square. To this day I think it would be pretty damn cool if someone were to organize an adult four square league or even an annual tournament--that's how fond my memories are of the game.

And yet, I can tell you that, like a lot of memories, at the time I found the endeavor frustrating a good deal of the time. It's only with the benefit of hindsight that I can see what I thought was a highly stressful manner in which to spend both my recess and lunch hour was actually a motivating and fun time. You see, during the period in which four square became popular, three of my classmates figured out that if they teamed up they could pretty much dominate the court forever. Chris, David, and Steve formed this unholy trinity that would just hold the court like royalty. Whenever someone else entered, whenever someone else tried to get one of them out, they would conspire to set that patsy up. Eventually, with the odds stacked against the newcomer, he would be knocked out and the next victim would be called into the court.

Myself, being outside of this group, would join the chorus about how unfair this practice. I would raise my voice about how it went against the spirit of fair play, that the game was supposed to be a free-for-all experience and not a team sport. Naturally, our protests fell on deaf ears and despite our vocal clamoring for equity on the court, we would all still take our place in line to make another go of it.


straddle the line in discord and rhyme
I'm on the hunt I'm after you.

It used to bother me that the dozen or so of us would be so willing to be put through the same pointless routine. Even when we would manage to get one of them out, that would only serve to rile them up even more. Not only were you immediately put out with the next serve, but for the rest of the afternoon you were marked as being a huge target. I would struggle to understand what the purpose was of entering into a contest we had no hope of winning.

And now I can see the whole point wasn't really to try to win. The main point was to play just to rally against such lofty heights. Even if you were mostly likely to put out with the next slam or bounce, it wasn't a guarantee. Frankly, I think we found solace in the idea that we could upset the balance of power, even if it was only momentarily. There were a lot of games we were better at. There were a lot of games that had more equitable rules of conduct, but for those afternoons spent on the court I think we all learned what it's like to fight an uphill battle without conceding. As much as we might have disliked the practice, they technically weren't breaking the rules as there was no way to enforce independent parties. As much as it frustrated us, they discovered a loophole in the system that they could explain for their gain.

But somehow, going through the motions of doing our best made for a more memorable time than if everything had been done on the up and up. Sure, we might have gotten more time in play, but it wouldn't have meant as much if there wasn't some kind of daunting task to accomplish. Then it would have just been a game that might have come and gone as a passing fad. It was because that they positioned themselves as such an overwhelming obstacle we all became entranced with the game.

It's one thing if you find a task not worthy of your time because it's too easy, it's another thing entirely to find a task you want done that seems next to impossible to accomplish. You can either give up and let the system beat you, or you can keep pushing at your goal without letting it get the better of you.

I'm proud to say I never let it get the best of me. Some of the must fun I've ever had was at the expense of my pride at the prospect losing over and over again in that schoolyard game. I may not remember every game I had fun winning... I definitely remember the one game I had loads of fun losing at.

Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers