21st century living has become one big game with all the players competing against each other for the big score. It is all about who is winning these days. Students at all levels have special­ized in test taking skills so they can achieve high marks for their transcripts, all the while they are dumping all that information in preparation for the next test. No learning is actually occurring, just data transfer and data dumping. We are building champion Americans that look good on paper but are as hollow of substance as the paper Mache trophies that kindergartners construct all across the countries’ public schools.

There are commercials on the radio that imply that if you have a high credit rating you will be more attractive to the opposite sex. People parade around with tee shirts printed with the saying; “He who dies with the most toys , wins” acknowledging the fact that we all know that the game is afoot but shouldn’t seriously give it any thought. Just keep track of the score, it doesn’t matter what the rules of the game are. Get a really high score and you might beat your neighbor at the game, so pay attention to the score. Don’t pay any attention to the man moving the pieces across the board of life.
I am telling you that game is fixed and no one wins. No one get out of here alive and everybody dies alone, even in a crowd. The Chess masters themselves must face that fact. No one wins this game. But it sure is a fun game to play. Just imagine how much of a better game it would be if we would all stop competing with each other and started co-operating towards the goals we have in life. We split ourselves into as many teams as we can with nationalism, divine right, manifest destiny, racial segregation, class and cultural divisions, bi partisan political parties and sexual orientation. The list could go on and on. Whenever we mass together as humanity we find some way to internally divide ourselves. It is hard-wired into our heads. Watch a group of eight year old boys play and as soon as there are more than three boys playing together, their talks turn to what teams can be made or how they ditch the odd man out.

The age of competition carried us far in the game of human advancement but it is clear to see that now it is only hindering the process. At this point, there are just too many people on this planet to carry on competing against each other. The game has grown past the gaming table and it is time we all put our heads together to make the idea of how do we clean up this mess? Just imagine what could happen if all near seven billion of us thought the same thought for just a moment. Just imagine what could be conceptualized.