It’s In the Game: Part II

  They say it takes all kinds of people to make the world go around. I guess that’s true. The world is filled with all sorts of people that we have to deal with every day. Everywhere I’ve ever been, I have always managed to meet really good people. I was in Massachusetts for a year when I was in the army and met a wonderful family that invited me and a couple of my friends over for Thanksgiving Dinner since they had heard that we couldn’t make it home for the holiday. Afterwards we spent many weekends with them. They provided us with a car and showed us the sights. When I hear people say that, “All those damn Yankees up north are unfriendly,” I have to disagree. When I was stationed in the country of Panama for two years, my next door neighbors, Martin and Olga, became like substitute parents for my wife and I. They took us under their wing and protected us. We were shown around the country and met many of their friends and went to parties with them. And it has been like that everywhere I’ve ever been. There are many wonderful people in the world of all nationalities, religions, races and backgrounds.

  Of course, we have all run into the other kind. Everywhere I’ve been and in every job I have ever had there is always at least one that I can’t get along with, don’t like because of how they behave or that just rub me the wrong way from the get go. All of us know how to get along with the good ones. But what about the other kind? Let me tell you a little story about a person I had to deal with when I lived in Nashville, TN. From day one on my job there at Nortel Networks, this woman - one of my co-workers -didn’t like me. I don’t know why. I never did anything to her or said anything to her that was out of line. But for seven years she continually bad-mouthed me to our co-workers and the boss and back stabbed me every chance she got. My buddy would be outside in the smoke pen with her and come back and tell me, “Man you should hear what she’s saying about you now. You would really be mad if I told you.” I always told him not to tell me because it didn’t matter. And I told him that all I could do anyway about her was to pray for her. And I did. He couldn’t understand how I could say that or why I didn’t get upset at least. Other people’s opinions of me have never mattered much to me. But anyway, in all the seven years we worked in the same building I never said an unkind word to her or about her. Every day when I saw her I smiled and greeted her just like everyone else. Because of this woman, I didn’t get a raise for years because she convinced the boss I wasn’t a “team player”. I even let that go. Finally I moved on to our corporate office and left her behind. After another five years passed, I decided to move back to Texas. Before I left, I went back to the warehouse and said my goodbyes to everyone. This woman who had hated me all this time was the first to come and hug my neck telling me how much they were going to miss me. And she asked if she could talk to me privately before I left. When we were alone, she handed me a letter that she had intended to mail to me. She broke down and cried and told me how sorry she was for the way she had treated me all those years. She admitted that I had never done anything to wrong her. She said she couldn’t explain why she had been that way, but that she was now getting help for her many problems dealing with people. Prayer answered?

  So in life we all face, sometimes on a daily basis, selfish people, pushy people, angry people, mean spirited people, people who just think they are better than everyone else, and lots of other negative type human beings. It’s an inescapable fact of life. In part one of this article I told you about my new pastime of playing Battle Pirates. Since we can “chat” with one another in the game, you also meet all kinds of people there too. The biggest majority are awesome, generous, helpful and friendly people. I’ve been told that you can’t really get to know people on the internet. I beg to differ. Personalities come out there just as they do in “real life”. For instance, I know that Heidi Mouse is a very wonderful caring mother who adores her young daughter. I know that rjsmauraders is a good friend to have and will be excellent in his newly chosen health care profession as soon as he graduates. I know that KaBcruiser is a funny, vivacious cut-up on the surface but her waters run deep, and she has secrets she keeps from all of us. I know that n2xdr runs a “Daddy Daycare” and loves his and all children very much, and that he is a tireless and fearsome warrior of God. SheDevil I know personally. In the game she is a shameless flirt and mischief maker, but in real life she has a heart of gold. And then there’s Couyons. Couy is the leader of our little alliance. He’s all over the charts sometimes but always funny. And what Cajun do you know that doesn’t like to party and eat good food?And then there are guys like DeathbyTug, Kiwi, and Griff who have reached across the water with concern for an old guy like me who they don’t even know and will probably never meet to make sure that I’m ok.

  Those are just some of the good guys. But in the game, just like in real life, you have to deal with the other kind as well. Their mean spirit and animosity towards the rest of us comes out in everything they do and say. So how do you deal with them? When you cross over and yell at them and curse them, all you manage to do is be like them. And it reinforces the negative things they already think about you in the first place. You cannot defeat a negative with a negative. You only make it stronger. So when you come up against a beast of a human being in “real life” or in the game, the best ways to handle it is pray for them and walk away. When negativity is ignored it will eventually shrivel and die. Give it an audience, and it will only grow.

  So when I say, It’s In the Game, I mean that there is life in this game at least. It’s not all mindless posing. You make friends and maybe even enemies just like in real life, and you have to learn how to deal with that. You learn who you can count on and who you can’t. I’ve seen it happening over the past few years, and I’m sure it will continue to happen faster and faster where the real world and the virtual world start to converge. Someday, in the not too distant future, it may get harder and harder to distinguish between the two. Can you imagine playing battle pirates on something like the holo-deck of the Enterprise? I can see that day already rapidly approaching us. Let’s just hope we are all emotionally ready to deal with the folks we meet there whether they be computer generated ones like the evil drac or real ones who have entered the game with us. Interacting with all kinds of people is obviously one of the reasons why we’re here. After all, we could have been all the same like some herd animals or bees in a hive. But then we wouldn’t be human would we? And our chance for getting to know ourselves and others would be lost.