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Passing Humanity, a Walking Game
by Bernie DeKoven
One of my favorite things to do when I go for a walk is to make
passing contact with strangers. It's a fine art, requiring careful
timing and sophisticated strategy.
A pass begins anywhere between 10 and 5 paces (the fewer the paces,
the greater the challenge). During this time, you must establish
eye contact and determine the form of encounter, verbal or non-.
Each has its own range. Nonverbal can vary from smile to wave to
hat-doffing (for the hatted few). Verbal can vary from "hi" to "hello"
to "howya doin'" to "beautiful day" and beyond.
It can be a very rewarding game, especially when someone actually
acknowledges and returns your greeting, the degree of reward depending
on the form that response takes relative to your opening play. So,
for example, a smile and a nod in response to your opening smile
is significantly more rewarding than a nod or smile alone. A verbal
response to your nonverbal opening is even more rewarding. Clearly
the combinations are endless.
It can be an equally disheartening experience when your gambit of
greeting is not returned.
To bridge the psychic abyss left by a Gambit Declined, I, from time
to time, like to keep score. Every time I get a response, I give
anywhere from 1 to 10 points to Humanity. In like manner, when I
don't get a response, I chalk it up to Man's Inhumanity to Man.
Since I am on the side of Humanity, I am always gladdened when Humanity
wins. Consequently, I am constantly exploring new and more effective
strategies to secure Humanity's ascendance in the Great Game. And,
when the victory goes to the dark side, I, at least, am not personally
implicated.
One of the things that makes this game so richly playworthy is all
the variables. The allure of finding a winning strategy often keeps
me smiling and waving even when Humanity is 10 or even 20 points
behind.
It is in this spirit that I reveal one of my most exemplary and
successful strategies:
First, you need to find someone with a baby. I do like babies, by
the way, so the following is no mere ploy. The trick is to smile
at the baby first. Not that you'd expect to get a smile back . Depending
on how many paces you were apart when you initiate the smile, you
might go so far as to include a mini, baby-appropriate wave. The
second, and equally crucial part of the trick is to glance up from
the baby in time so that the implied greeting is deflected upwards
to the adult. I've become so skilled with this strategy that Humanity
has earned as much as 8 points from a single passing encounter.
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Major FUN
Major FUN, aka Bernie DeKoven, is the author of
the DeepFUN
Weblog and The Well-Played
Game. a book that helped to revolutionize physical
education worldwide.
He teaches his Lessons from The Well-Played Game to government
and charitable organizations, businesses and individuals in
recovery.
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