Do you remember this scene from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone? Take a look if you have the 6 minutes.
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Chess is a fabulous game that speaks volumes about life. I thank my father for teaching me chess years and years ago because I believe that learning chess prepared me for much of what my life has been. One of the best things chess taught me was that rarely does a move go the way you hope. Thus, you must always be ready for the negative outcome.
Watch Ron at 3:31 in the clip. He surveys the chess board. He is moving the pieces in his mind before playing on the board. He knows that he has to make a move that should end with his own piece being sacrificed, but one never knows.
In the past two weeks, I’ve had several conversations with students who are desperately struggling with life issues. A few are trying to recover from actions taken years ago. Some are wrestling with “what do I do now” as they survey the scene after a bad decision. Just today I spoke with a young adult who has decide how to handle a situation that has quickly raveled out of control.
So often, the young fail to grasp this lesson, though clearly many “adults” never see it coming too. Check out this article about a college student from Rutgers. He had an idea that he presumed would be funny—film his roommate without his consent. After he later broadcast an illicit rendezvous, the roommate tragically committed suicide. Now the first student faces up to five years in prison and a lifetime of remorse knowing that he caused the death of a peer.
I can just see him thinking about this before he pulled off the prank. If I could have intercepted him, I would have heard the familiar litany of someone who has failed to contemplate the negative outcome. “Oh, it’ll be okay; its no big deal.” “The worst that could happen would be my roommate gets mad at me, maybe kicks me out of the room.” I doubt he thought about going to jail.
The road to success is never straight nor easy. You must learn to play the chessboard without moving the pieces, looking at all of the possible outcomes. Moreover, you must be willing to contemplate the negative outcome.