Every game depends on someone agreeing to play.
Field Notes
A fencing match looks like a contest between two opponents.
But only because both choose to remain on the piste.
The moment one person quietly walks away, the match doesn’t produce a winner.
It simply stops being a match.
So much of what we call power works the same way.
Arguments.
Status.
Rivalries.
The endless effort to prove we’re more important, more successful, more right.
These games continue only because enough of us keep agreeing to play them.
There is nothing wrong with games.
The trouble begins when we forget participation is still a choice.
Sometimes freedom isn’t found by winning.
It’s found by realizing you were always free to set the sword down.