Volume 5, Issue 9, page 2

The JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 1959 * Vol. 5, No. 9
"
"
"
"Life is only
a game", declare
these wise owls,
who have set
themselves up as masters at
unscrewing the inscrutable.
And for this supreme dip into
the ocean of plagiarism, they
expect a world to bow down in
obeisance, to buy their books
and courses in hopes of learning the " rules" for this weird
"game' about which they prate
so knowingly, and which they
themselves seem to prefer kibitzing to participation.

But what kind of a "game"?
If you think your dollars are
going to get an answer to this
question, you still rank as a
beginner at this "game" of being proselyted. In the end,
after poring thru volumes and
volumes of abstruse banalities,
you know no more than when you
started. "Life is a game" -- and
you paid out thousands, maybe,
fora "sideline program" printed in invisible ink.

In our lifetime, we've been
sold" a few "rules" ourselves, which, added to those
foisted on us from infancy,
have resulted in a pretty heterogenous personal government.
At times, we're not certain
whether to kick a punt, run to
second base, or toss the ball
into a basket. Whatever we do,
there'll be those playing a
different game, horrified at
our unorthodox behavior.

Since The ABERREE is not in
the business of selling ANY
game" other than the one you
may now be playing, we don't
mind admitting, for free, that
we have concocted an analogy
we like, which you can expand
from here to there, if you
wish, without fear of violating any protective copyright.

We think Life is most similar to what you can do with a
deck of CARDS -- YOU being the
player and the cards being the
games" can you play with a
body? You want to start counting? Bridge (contract or auction), poker (with all its minor and major facets), rummy
(dittol,pitch, rook old maid,
whist, cassino -- the list is
almost endless.

Many of you who play canasta know that most groups -- and
even in some homes -- have what
is called "house rules", in
which deviations are made from
recommended procedures. If
this is your way of playing
the "Game of Life", you have
narrowed your field of participation. Some won't want to
"play" with you, because they
either follow "house rules" of
their own, or are sticklers
for conformity.

Religion has its own game.
They take a blank card and put
it in the chandelier, or elsewhere out of anybody's reach
and this isa "wild", or