Checkmate

 Way back when I was a student in elementary school, I was considered quite precocious when it came to my skills at the chess board. 

 Way back when I was a student in elementary school, I was considered quite precocious when it came to my political awareness. 

I suspect that the two are connected in some way, if only that I didn't have all these adult concerns crowding my brainpan, leaving less and less room for knight to rook seven and the corruption seen and felt at every level of our government. Back in the day, I could beat everyone in my class and a number of the grownups who sat down across from me with the notion that they might challenge me. I was reading Time Magazine as much as I was reading Mad Magazine back in those days, and current events were part of my minimum daily requirements. I had opinions on the Middle East and I knew not only was Nixon guilty but why. 

So let's skip ahead a decade or so. I never entered a chess tournament. I never ran for office. I was content to watch from the sidelines while the nation slid left and right and tried to find a way to avert what would eventually become the debacle of giant orange proportions. I made a practice of playing about a game of chess a year, on the Santa-themed set my father made us with my wife. Her older brother is a ranked player and has won many titles, so I figure I'm getting a pretty fair match. I also took some time to give my son the basics of the game, with his uncle brought in to give him that extra push. 

And I still rail on about politics at most every level, as you may have noticed if you have read more than three of these posts. Sadly, I have grown far too accustomed to pointing out the holes and faults with the powers that be and less inclined to suggesting solutions. This would be part of my downward spiral into cranky old man. The chess player in me looks at the past few elections and wonders how we could have expected anything other than a stalemate. Each swing to the left is followed swiftly by another to the right. True progress for red or blue is as likely as a draw in a match between evenly matched black and white. When you lose your queen, the game isn't over. There are still plenty of ways to win, but those who are playing the game of politics don't tend to be very daring. Meanwhile, those of us kibitzing on the side wince and whine with every false move. It is so much easier to pretend that we don't all have a stake in the game. 

Because we do. I'm old enough to understand that now.