THE GAME OF LIFE...

From my first job delivering newspapers to my most recent job at a well-known restaurant, I've been involved in the biggest partnership in business- the desperate game of cat and mouse between employee and employer.

This game is a popular one among Americans. Unlike Milton Bradley, this game is crucial for survival and necessary for life. Players always begin the game with a goal in mind. They play to guarantee material happiness. They play to provide a stable future. Sometimes they play for personal benefit. Other times they play for the gain of a spouse.

Many times they play out of love for a child. Or two. Or three.

The game isn't always laughs and giggles. Sometimes we're good at it and we move smoothly around the board with few obstacles. Other times we run into barriers and hurdles that impede our success. At one point or another we decide we're sick of the game and desire to play a new, more profitable game.

Some are lucky. Some are not.

Games have rules, and consequences are distributed upon departure. Sometimes it's best to begin a new game. Other times the longer you play the better you do.
The property may have been purchased and the funds might look healthy, but in the roll of the dice it could all disappear.

As with any game, you can either be a winner of a loser. Participation in the game may be the difference between staying or going, renting or buying, having and wanting, paying or borrowing, and in some cases- eating or starving.

While I am a hard-worker, I've never favored the game. I'm sick of applications, interviews and phone calls. I figure if they need me, they'll find me.

But the game doesn't work like that.

Players are required to speak the language of persuasion- to convince employers that the business would benefit only with their assistance. You must practice a sturdy amount of arrogance and persistence, only to sit back and wait for them to find the time to unload the burden from your desperately waiting shoulders.

The game can be frustrating, intimidating, exasperating, maddening, testing, nerve-wracking, threatening and despairing. But it can also be a nourishing, rewarding, pleasing, satisfying, heartwarming, sustaining, gratifying and fulfilling.

While your time in the game can be disparaging, it can also be a blessing.
That's what it's all about.

It's the game of life...