Friday Thoughts part- 7

As I am prone to do, I apply everyday occurrences to my values in the gospel and such. A game where the point is to kill people is no exception. For my assassin's game, I thought I'd apply the game to my future career in what I believe will be politics. Politics is known for it's backstabbing, deceit, and general lack of trust. At least, that is the impression I get from the politics that I read about in Robert Jordan, which I believe to be relatively accurate despite the fact that it's a fiction book. Also Machiavelli...

Anyways, I died last night and as such I wanted to make some observations on human nature. Foremost we must acknowledge the fact that this was a game. When you're playing a game, most people will resort to unsavory tactics and the other players of the game will allow this to happen cause they don't want to be a stick in the mud. Truthfully I would feel very sticky and muddy if I called someone out on their ways of playing the game when, oh, it doesn't really matter!

Well, in contrast to this, I tried to do exactly the opposite. Can one win a game of deceit and killing on good merit alone?!? I never lied (you can't use half truths either, cause some still consider those lies) and I never betrayed a person (just killed them?). I made it a point not to make any alliance with anyone just so that I would not betray them in the end. I also did not depend on any other person. That's a sad existence...not being able to depend on anyone. But I thought it better than having to betray my friends in the end.

Applying this to politics, you have to be very good at word play. I think politics will be different because there are people you can rely on and not betray in the end. But that will only be because your purposes just happen to align with theirs. People will lie and manipulate you in order to meet their ends. They will give you false information that leads you to actions of ruination and defamation.

So what do I suggest for the person seeking to win a game of assassins or politics? Perseverance (i.e. patience), reliance only on yourself, believing that you never have all of the facts, and careful decision making. I didn't take my time in killing my targets, got antsy, and died because of it. I thought I knew people's characters well enough to depend upon them and died because of it.

But like I like to remember, it's only a game.

As to politics, I think you will always have to base your decisions while never having all the facts. It's a delicate dance of policy and making the optimal choice. If you make decisions based on the fact that you can only trust yourself, you won't get very far. But I feel that if you prepare for people to fail you will probably do better than putting all your dependency on them.

So there you have it. I'm overly cynical and lacking in trust. No! In fact I'm horribly optimistic. While these are rules I live by, I love to be a paradox. I'll still find myself trusting others, jumping the gun, and relying on others as well. You just have to find a healthy medium. Plus every person is a different piece with different levels of skill and trustability.

Hence, as I like to remember, it's all a game.