For some people, life is harder than Chess

There's one of those "I've come up with a perfect analogy for life" blog posts going around. It's sort of like those stock photos with an "inspirational" quote on it - but in long form.

Apparently, Your Life Is Tetris. Stop Playing It Like Chess. It's all vaguely plausible, life-lessony, woo - which tries to map one person's journey onto a greater human experience.

Frankly, it's unmitigated bollocks, and I'd like to skewer some of its pomposity.

1. In life, your only opponent is yourself.

Or, you know, people who actually want to kill you. Yup, some people live in war zones, or in gang-ridden hell-holes. Even if you're in a stable country (for now), your Government can still want to disenfranchise you. Or could could have abusive peers and parents. OR a boss who constantly undermines you. Or any one of a number of actual, real-life, totally agressive foes.

It must be nice living in a world where you truly believe that that only barrier to success if yourself. That explains why other people haven't become as accomplished as the author - it's nothing to do with their circumstances, just their attitude. Yeah, right.

2. In life, things don’t get harder — they just get faster.

Oh! To be young again. One day, they author is going to find it slightly harder to lift his groceries than the day before. One day, their back will just give out completely, their hearing will fade, their glasses prescription will get stronger, and hangovers will last all weekend!

Sure, the pace of change is getting faster - but that doesn't mean everyone is able to run at the same speed.

3. In life, you can’t control the board.

So, this is supposed to mean that life is as random as the next Tetris piece. Errr... what? With sensible planning, it's possible for individuals to hedge against random happenstance. We generally call it "insurance".

And, of course, you can make a pretty good prediction for you how life will treat you based on the likely outcomes for your socio-economic class. Sure, you don't know what's coming next - but you know that a your early years have a huge impact on your later development.

If you're able to get a higher degree then that will tend to lead to better employment prospects.

Start saving for a pension now - and you can control your "board" as you get to retirement.

4 In life, no one tells you when you’ve won.

Really? You don't think society places great emphasis on milestone achievements like marriage, reproduction, employment success, sporting prowess, etc?

Sure, on a fundamental level, you are the only one who knows what will make you truly happy - but everyone will be very keen to tell you if you're a winner or a loser.

Bah. I think Tay-tay said it best.