You lose, sucka!

So, a couple of weeks ago, my nephew asked me to play marbles with him. I don't want to play, so I kind of don't answer him until he says, "winner gets a quarter". Well, immediately I am a bit more interested in playing. I ask him if he has a quarter, to which he replies, "yes." I let him know that I need to see said quarter before we begin. So, he runs off to his room and comes back with a quarter that he took from his piggy bank. It never occurs to him to ask me to present my quarter, but I figure he must know I'm good for it. After all, I've never lied or tried to cheat him in the past. We choose 5 marbles each, careful to opt for those we think will be the true winners of the bunch. I naturally go for the ones that are the most interesting to look at and create a nice array of color in my hand. For, I have no intention of winning the game. But I do want him to work for it, a bit. So, game on.

I let him take my first two marbles with relative ease. After his confidence builds, he starts getting cocky. Making statements about how it must feel to lose, and how much he rules and I suck. I let him take all but one of my beauties, and upon winning number 4, he shouts out, "you lose, sucka." That's all it took, the beast in me emerged and I knew that this little boy was going down. I became the Yoda of marbles, summoning some hidden inner jedi skill of shooting precise angles and lines to win all of my marbles back and begin taking his. My thumb had the aim of a sniper, it was amazing. Picking marbles off, one by one. As his attitude started to wane, and he started to realize that I was a marble pro, he started to cheat. Winning at all costs. What the hell was that? So, even at 6, little humans go to the dark places in their hearts to protect what, their pride? Self esteem? Reputation? No, their MONEY! The quarter that he had anted up was no longer in sight. He had hidden it. (I promise you that I had no intention of taking his quarter, I wasn't even going to win the game. I was just trying to teach him a little bit about being a good winner. I have no interest in stealing from kids piggy banks - I am not into evil deeds, or bad karma)

When I asked him where it was, he pretended to not know. He told me that the bet didn't count and that he was just kidding when he made it. Immediately, my heart sank. Does corruption exist in all of us from the beginning? Are we all just cheaters by nature? Surely if a child's mind is capable of manipulating words and situations in their own best interest, the answer must be yes. Is it only by some other means that some of us keep this tendency in check and choose not to indulge in our own will to cheat others to better ourselves? Just as I was giving up on the entire human race, and getting ready to pull my soap box out of my back pocket to deliver a dissertation on the evil that is greed....my nephew presented me with the quarter and declared me the victor of the game. I told him that he was a good boy, and for being a good sport I would give him his quarter back and that the best part of the game was just playing with him. With that, he quickly snatched up that quarter and ran off with it. I am a sucka!