A bet you can't hedge
Breakups happen to the best of us. All we can do is acknowledge they happened and move on.
At least that's what I told my buddy when he and his girlfriend split yesterday. And I'm fairly certain I was right. But it's time like these that remind the Tin Man how he earned his moniker.
It's not that I don't have feelings. I do. They're a little hard to get to sometimes, but they're there. I just fail to understand how people - most people, 98% of the world, give or take - open themselves up to the possibility of horrible, terrible pain.
"Falling in love," I think some folks call it.
I mean, the odds are ridiculous! If relationships were something you could play in Vegas, those tables would be the emptiest in the joint. Think about it: I'm betting all my chips that you're the one for me, regardless of changes of environment or consequence, and that nothing will shake this bond you and I feel right this second.
But there's a sucker born every minute, as they say, and we as a species have been rolling the dice for hundreds of millennia now. I guess because a good chunk of us hits the jackpot every now and then.
I don't win and I know exactly why: I don't play. To load one more game metaphor in here, if you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, I've failed at 100% of the relationships I haven't attempted.
I could bore you with the reasons why, that there was this girl once who did this thing, but it's an old tale and someone else could probably tell it better.
My buddy chose to give his all to this girl and it didn't work out. He lost this bet. There'll be others, I told him, more opportunities for joy and sorrow, and that's how this thing rolls on and on. He nodded, and said he knew, but I know my words didn't mean much to him at that point. He was too... sad. Too emotional.
Can't say I didn't envy him.
- TM
At least that's what I told my buddy when he and his girlfriend split yesterday. And I'm fairly certain I was right. But it's time like these that remind the Tin Man how he earned his moniker.
It's not that I don't have feelings. I do. They're a little hard to get to sometimes, but they're there. I just fail to understand how people - most people, 98% of the world, give or take - open themselves up to the possibility of horrible, terrible pain.
"Falling in love," I think some folks call it.
I mean, the odds are ridiculous! If relationships were something you could play in Vegas, those tables would be the emptiest in the joint. Think about it: I'm betting all my chips that you're the one for me, regardless of changes of environment or consequence, and that nothing will shake this bond you and I feel right this second.
But there's a sucker born every minute, as they say, and we as a species have been rolling the dice for hundreds of millennia now. I guess because a good chunk of us hits the jackpot every now and then.
I don't win and I know exactly why: I don't play. To load one more game metaphor in here, if you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, I've failed at 100% of the relationships I haven't attempted.
I could bore you with the reasons why, that there was this girl once who did this thing, but it's an old tale and someone else could probably tell it better.
My buddy chose to give his all to this girl and it didn't work out. He lost this bet. There'll be others, I told him, more opportunities for joy and sorrow, and that's how this thing rolls on and on. He nodded, and said he knew, but I know my words didn't mean much to him at that point. He was too... sad. Too emotional.
Can't say I didn't envy him.
- TM
posted by The Tin Man | 2/07/2006
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