Head To Head

There I was, on the subway train and bound for a movie screening whose purpose was to celebrate a friend's birthday. Because the movie was the recently released "Great Gatsby", the idea had been conceived that we dress up in fancy Jazz Age-appropriate garb. I complied as well as I could, putting on the suit generally reserved for the likes of weddings and funerals. On a hot day, it maybe looked a bit out of place on the train.

I was listening to a podcast and playing "Angry Birds" when a family got on. There was the mother, the father and the child in a stroller. I thought the child was a little old for that, but it's not my business. The child was also playing "Angry Birds", which made me question my behavior. How could I, a grown man wearing a fancy suit, be playing the very same game at the same time in the same place as this apparently slow child?

I think that, perhaps I need not be concerned about the comparison. The boy in question did not seem able to easily progress beyond the game's menu, whereas I have managed to pass multiple levels of the game. That suggests that I am well ahead of him in intellect. I may not be as favorably compared with adults or even adolescents, but with this boy, I look pretty good. I don't look so good comparing myself to children of dubious walking skill.

Even so, I take it as a kind of a triumph. If one can be upset by such an incident as failing to garner as much attention as a child at a family gathering, then one must accept the positive feelings of besting a child of equally tender age at any sort of contest, regardless of whether it is one where the child stands much of a chance. Anyway, if you are unimpressed, let's pretend this was about the coincidence of the child playing the same game.