People say that I am competitive. It must be true because I am a sore loser. Unfortunately, I lose more than I win, but as long as I have played at my best ability and no one has cheated, I can accept defeat with only a little pouting. Ben is competitive, too.
The Peel
Ben loves to play card games. At least he thinks he loves it. Yet, he has lost the ability to keep the rules straight and to play by them. So, he often gets upset at his opponents because he thinks they are cheating - which they are not. He is just confused. Then he conveniently forgets the rules of the game. At best, the rules get categorized as being flexible.
For a competitive person, this is very frustrating. I lose points that were rightfully mine. I get yelled at for doing something I wasn’t doing. Ben is declared the winner despite the final score. (Ugh!) Do we have to play this same game again for the sixtieth time just because Ben thinks he’s good at it?!?
The Fruit
I realize that I have a choice - to sulk and complain, or to think of it as a different game. The objective of this game is to show honor and love to Ben, to enjoy the friendly family banter around the table, and to challenge my competitive ego to a dual. The rules are that all players except Ben must follow the game design. Ben is a wild card and can do whatever he wants. The winner is either everyone or no one depending on how much fun we had.
In the end, we often say out loud that Ben won, but then talk more privately about who had the better score. Getting the better score is much harder in this game. With Ben as the wild card, having the best score is a bonus accomplishment, not the main focus of the night. Perhaps I can even say that my competitive nature is being more flexible (stretched, to say the least).
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