The Washington herald., 1921-03-27
Playing at Life as a Game
By George A. Birmingham

moment, giving an advantage 70 our rfyal-
But it is not only luck which counts Ine
better man, not the luckiest man. tends To
win in the long run. That is where patience
fails as a game Like chess il leaves out
an important part of life.
DRIDGE gets nearer 10 life than either
ID chess or patience. There is the element
of luck in it, q very powerful factor In de-
Gliding the issue, but there il also COM
petition, the setting Of mind against mind.
The best luck may be useless to a very IN
skillfull player who is evermastered BY his
opponent The evil effects of the worst
luck may be minimized. We are not strus-
Cling only against destiny; but against
other men, while destiny sports with us
and our rivals alike This is very much
what happens in real life. And there In
also in bridge an element almost totally
wanting in chess and patience Much may
be done bv bluff An oyerc1utiors op-
ponent may be deprived Of q seemingly Ger
tain victory, rash opponent may be in
volved in disaster. Luck itself may Be
cheated of its effects by the man who can
bluff
So it is in life Who that has watched
our politicians, our business men, our pro-
fessionsl men will deny that bluff has
nearly as much to do with success a. lDck
or skill? In another way, too, bridge re-
sembles life as neither chess nor patencs
does. The bridge player has q partner a.
well as opponents. his success depends
nearly as much on his partner IS on him
self he must be able to count not only
on his partners playing the htNcard when
the game is in progress, brt On his part
ner's declarations bearing their proper
meaning. In life we are always more or
less dependent on other men. We must be
able to reckon on their loyalty, their hon
esty, and their skill. Otherwise we win never
get anywhere or accomplish anything. No
man, not even a free lance journalist who
never marries, is in a position to say II
care for nobody, no, not L" We must take
our friends into consideration as wen a.
our opponents. 1t is luck generally, the
turn Of a card, which decides who are To BE-
partners and who rivals
Yet bridge, though it comes near it, is not
a perfect representation of life We can
not control luck in life any more than in Q
game Of cards, insisting that it should be
good or bad But in life VIC are not st
the mercy Of lrck to nearly so great an eI-
tent as we are at a card table. That 10
where bridge and all card games fail. They
everemphasize the importance Of luck.
Luck does matter in life. No man can iS-
more it But he can, in real life Acutralize
it by good play to a far greater extent
than is possible at cards. A strong wind
blowing across a golf links on the day Of q
match Is q matter Of luck. No player can
command il to blow harder or TO stop blow
ing. Moreover, il blows unevenly. II
rises to q gust just rs one player is strikins
his ball, sinks almost to q calm when Il
comes to his opponents turn That 10 q
matter of luck But no player il q slave
to such luck. He can calculate, can %
reckon the force of the wind and direct hn
shot that his ball will not be swept into q
bunker but will lie pleasantly in the fsi,
way. That is much more like life than the
position at the card table when lrck rive
your opponent the ace and not all you
wisdom or your Wit will make q king win I
trick against him.
Yet luck remains o very important thin
in life as in most games A great criti,
noted it rs the peculiar glory Of Shakes-
peare's genius that he always recognized tn
importance Of this outstanding element Q
pure chance IN human afairL