GOLF LESSONS

In a commercial, those who market golf imply the game teaches lessons of life. In it one young player says, to golf you  must learn to add. This is good because the way we live life we have to keep financial score. Another tells us if you do something wrong you are penalized. Indeed, in life there are rules to follow and transgressions are punished. A third youngster suggests golf teaches honesty. That too is a worthwhile lesson because we just can't give ourselves a better 'lie' in life when no one is looking. We're supposed to play what we're given whether in the fairway, the rough or completely lost.

Perhaps it's because the commercial is so short or that it's made for family entertainment that producers left out a couple of the most important lessons. Maybe they just complicate the others too much. Regardless, it is well known that if you want to play on the weekend you have to make the cut. In our economic 'game' clearly the vast majority of humanity does not make the cut; and those of us who do aren't about to change the rules. The ultimate life lesson golf teaches us is that there is only one winner. We can reach out to the limits of our capacities (see poem) but that effort is not recognized. Only the winner receives the accolades. It is a tough 'game' we play.