Over the past few years I have played several people several times. With this group of people, I usually win, and they go away for a while, sometimes 6 months or a year, and then they come back, ready to try again to win. Every once in a while, they win, but most of the time the win goes my way. And so they go away again, practice some more, and try again.
Yesterday was another one of those days. M. R. came by the Fun House for some 9 ball, race to 9. I took the first 4 games in a row, then lost focus, started trash talking, and he caught up to tie the match. And he stayed with me when I went to 5 games. It was at this point that I had to bear down hard and shut up with the talking, and get serious. It worked, I took the next 4 games in a row for the win, the final score was 9-5.
I would much rather not keep score, and simply enjoy the beauty of the game. This would encourage taking risks, and risks beget successes, and learning.
For most people, however, keeping score is a way of measuring their success, or failure. They do not want to learn, only win. And if they do not win, they do not want to learn what they can do to win next time. Some people prefer to think they can figure it out on their own, and will prove it next time.
For them, here is a message from Issac Newton:
If I have seen a little farther it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.
Even Newton, one of the greatest minds in history, learned from those who came before him. We are all students, or we learn nothing. Ego must melt before the spirit of the student is revealed.
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