Snakes and Ladders and Life

One busy Friday evening, my mum, sister cousin and I went to Spotlight to purchase some material for a costume party we were to attend. We came upon a discount section after finding out desired material, and were carried away by the fact that Halloween items were all reduced to fifty cents. We grabbed all that we could want, and headed on our way to the counter.

I looked down at the rack beside me as we waited in line, and my eyes floated onto different trinkets and gadgets until I found something that would make me look at life in a different way: a game of Snakes and Ladders, for just three dollars. An entire game. A mat, six interlocking plastic checkers and a die. I thought it was ridiculously cheap, and thought of all the things I would do with it, so I made my sister purchase it for me. I did not think any more about it than the fact that we soon would indulge ourselves in going back to playing with things which did not have anything to do with pixels or technology, just mere good old fun.

Weeks went past, with this game in my possession. I took it with me on a road trip and holiday, lodging it into my almost-full bag of luggage in hopes that we would collectively sit and enjoy playing the game, just to see what it was like to live in a simple time where the most difficult thing that could happen to a child was landing on a number below three. We did not end up playing with it. In fact, this game had travelled with us for free without paying for petrol, and without paying for accommodation. It simply went on a holiday and returned home with me, and sat in varied places all over my study because of the lack of room we have.

It was not until this very moment in time that I came to a realization. I was sitting here, struggling to think of a topic to write about, and I looked over to my left and alas, there it was, staring right back at me as if to say that I should write about it. So, here I am, writing about the unopened and unused game of Snakes and Ladders. I stared at the numbers, the two shades of green acting as the checkers to land on, the bright yellow ladders and the colourful and daunting snakes. I stared at the large plastic checkers and the die and still thanked my wondering eyes for finding this bargain.

However, I soon thought of something – life is like a game of snakes and ladders. Think of a giant mat, numbered from one to three-hundred and sixty-five. Then think of hundreds of millions of plastic checkers representing every human on the planet. Think of the snakes as different hurdles humans encounter, and think of ladders as progression points. That is all life is about. We count our days up to a year, and no matter what hurdles or progression points we landed on, we start over anew in the next year. It is in our newfound nature to do so. Nobody can truly predict what can happen to one, or what one lands on when they roll the die. Will they face a hurdle? Or will they progress somehow? Perhaps a snake will literally harm them, or perhaps they will climb ladders throughout their lives as a part of their career. Regardless, though, life really is a game of Snakes and Ladders. We rise, we fall, but we still manage to make it through the year in hopes of the next year being a new, fresh start.

Staring at this miniscule version of human life, I now wonder if animals such as ants play this game too, but a much smaller version, as a way of keeping track of their days. Surely they do not spend all of their time only acquiring food.