Quote #50

“In this life we are either kings or pawns, emperors or fools.”
– Napoleon Bonaparte

For the last couple of weeks a single thought has been echoing around in my head: all men are either kings or pawns. After even just a few days I knew I’d want to confirm that it was a quote I was remembering, so I started researching the quote in an attempt to confirm its origins and accuracy. Unfortunately, I could not confirm that Napoleon actually said it (based on a quick Google search), but then I decided it didn’t matter. It’s the idea that I’m writing about, not the fact that a particular French general said it.

As soon as I finish writing this I am going to return to a JavaScript programming project I began this weekend. I don’t have an official title for it, but for now I am referring to it as my battle simulator. It generates a lot of code-based object entities that all make decisions based on sets of rules, all by themselves. They are divided into teams and arranged into a battlefield where they attack enemy teams until one team emerges victorious. Early in the development I ran into a lot problems with the rules by which those little soldiers made their decisions. At one point they would occasionally go to the edge of the battlefield and get stuck. I described those ones as being frozen with fear, but a coworker had another idea. He said they were the only smart ones. They were standing by at the edge of the battle wondering why they had to fight. “Why are we even here?” they were asking.

Well, I couldn’t have my code-warriors stopping to examine their deepest existential questions. So I found the problem and nixed the behavior. Now they just fight to the death, staining the battlefield with pools of their own blood digital. What have I created? A pawn generating system. They are pawns. They don’t do what they want. They don’t make their own decisions. They don’t run their own lives. I do. I am their king. Sure, I’m not leading just one army of pawns into battle (I’m actually setting hundreds of them up in wars for my own entertainment), but I am the one that is in control.

Is life really this way? Kind of. The thing is, things are very rarely as black and white (or as extreme) as my example. Sure, there is the occasional occurrence of a truly polarized situation or issue, but that is rare. Since I love programming I tend to think of A and B situations in two computer related terms. First there are binary terms. Sometimes (very, very rarely) something is truly A or B and it cannot be both. These are switches – on or off, true or false.

Other times things are a little more blurry. In those cases I think of a slider. Maybe the slider is all the way on the A side. Maybe all the way on the B side. But it could be anywhere in between as well. These are percentages.

And so it is in life. Life is not binary. It consists of sliders. We are indeed kings or pawns, but not in a binary sense. We are always somewhere between kings or pawns, and it can change.

In fact, I like to take it a step further. Not only are we a slider between kings or pawns, but different aspects of our lives can have separate slider values. Maybe at home we behave in more of a pawn way around our spouse (or parent or sibling) but we are a king with our children (or friends, or whatever). Perhaps once we get to work or school that changes again. Maybe it changes based a certain stimulus or circumstances. But most of the time in a given situation that slider is going to be the same each time you get to that particular situation. So the slider isn’t just one slider moving around all the time, it’s actually a collection of sliders with individual settings. These, too, can change over time or with hard work, but they represent the typical setting for that situation.

I believe it goes further than this. Not only are we all kings or pawns, but within those categories there are different kinds of kings and different kinds of pawns. And within those subcategories there are collections of sliders. We humans are very complex creatures. Individuals cannot just be thrown into a particular category. But we can be separated into behavioral categories (like kings or pawns) so long as it is considered situational and specific to circumstances.

We could talk all day about the many different types of pawns in the world. But that’s not what I’ve been thinking about lately. I think the world has and will always have plenty of pawns. It’s the kings that need work and attention in many cases.

I think there are two main categories of kings, and again we should consider that these do not exist in binary within our personalities.

The basic types of kings are the solids and the forces. While both are necessary and important, I think that the world needs more of one than the other.

Solid kings are typically what I would consider unmoving and opaque. There may be times when a solid king is necessary, but I tend to think of them as leaders that get in the way and cause stumbling blocks for others. They are obstacles that often impede the progress of those around them. They are earth because they are coarse and solid, and they are fire because they can be destructive and difficult to be around. If a solid king (or leader) were a mirror and you looked into it you would only see your flaws and shortcomings reflected back at you.

The forces are the kings that influence and help others along. They apply the proper amount of force to guide people along the path to improvement and progress. They are wind because they push gently, and they are water because their force is powerful, flexible, and it gives life. If a force king (or leader) were a mirror and you looked into it you would only see your potential and your strengths reflected back at you.

Now obviously the solid kings do have some traits that leaders should have, and that is why balance is necessary. But balance doesn’t always mean putting your slider at exactly 50% between A and B. If A is more important (carries more weight) a balanced slider lies closer to A than B (think of the lever and its fulcrum).

We are all mirrors to those around us. When they look to us they should have their potential and strengths reflected back at them more strongly than any of their flaws or shortcomings. It is necessary from time to time to point out an area of potential improvement to someone that you lead, but these matters must be handled with tact, care, patience, and strength. Balance.

If men are to sometimes act as kings over other men I hope they can be kings of influence and force rather than kings that cause others to stumble and fall.