Via Basel: Backgammon and Politics

Art by Morgan Tyree with “toy camera”

Playing games with my 7-year-old granddaughter Sophie is a favorite pastime of mine, and teaching her Backgammon, an ancient game going back thousands of years, one that  I learned from my own grandfather in a far away place a long time ago, makes it even more special. She loves it, too, but wants to win all the time; sometimes, when she’s behind, she tends to bend the rules of the game to her advantage. I explain that respect for rules are important for any game or else it’s not worth playing, and that you can’t always win no matter how good you are. Skill and strategy are important, but the roll of the dice adds to the unpredictability of outcome. Sure, it feels good to win, but it’s just as important to gracefully accept a loss and move on to play another day. The joy is in the game itself, even more than the outcome. I believe these experiences, in board or sports games help her to develop, mature, and learn to play the game of life, where you can enjoy your successes but more critically learn and improve yourself from your inevitable failures. Most of us get that, and gradually become adults with a respect for rules and fairness, developing empathy for the losing side, since sooner or later we will get a taste of that too.

Unfortunately, some grownups are stuck in these early developmental stages where “I” is central and “you” or “we” are peripheral, causing harm and suffering to all around including the person himself. Psychologists and sages have repeatedly told us that the essence of happiness is in expanding our concern, care, and compassion beyond ourselves to others. 

Looking critically at our world today and specifically our country, it is disappointing to see leaders and candidates who are stunted psychologically and emotionally at that early selfish developmental stage. I believe tyrants and dictators all over fit that bill, and that is to be expected, but even more alarming is how many people mirror and identify with them. Coming from a country, Iraq, where a ruthless dictator–Saddam Hussein–started a cycle of catastrophes devastating that country and spreading it to neighboring ones, too, I have first hand experience with it. It surely did not help that surrounding countries had similar leaders with different grades of suppression, or that world powers did not act wisely to counter his reckless ambitions.

I am not naive enough to believe in a utopian world without struggles and conflicts and also realize that the history of our species is dark in that aspect of human aspirations and liberty. In general, however, since WW2 there has been some progress in fits and starts, and in my own experience as a baby boomer born just after the war in 1946, in Baghdad, Iraq, I was a beneficiary of that. The decades of the 1950s and even 1960s, in Iraq, were golden compared to the situation now. Even so, I still felt my freedoms were restricted and, in December of 1971, I immigrated to this country, which I considered a bastion of freedoms and opportunities. With all its imperfections, and there are many, it still is.

Over the last two decades, however, several countries in different parts of the world have slipped back into full throttle dictatorships or elected demagogues who suppressed oppositions once they started governing in subtle and obvious ways using the powerful emotions of fear and hate. What I could not fathom is that my beloved country, this grand experiment of liberal democracy we call the United States of America, is entertaining the possibility of electing an authoritarian-loving ex-president supported by a major political party and a significant part of the populace, most of whom have never had the experience of being the subjects of a dictator. He cannot even admit losing an election four years ago both electorally and popularly by over 7 million votes, and refuses to play by any rules that are not dictated by him or his minions. Of course there are many important issues in this coming election, but for me, this one is supreme. Even though I may not agree with some policies of my preferred candidate, I choose the one who aligns more closely (not perfectly) with my personal values, morals, and ethics. After all, this is a binary not a multiple choice question.

I am sure I’ll be criticized for being “political” but to that I say: Politics is not a dirty word; it affects our lives, personal and communal, our health and well being, our social constructs and freedoms, and every aspect of our lives. We ignore politics and being active in it at our own peril, and that is especially relevant for the ones who want to maintain their freedoms. Policies and regulations can always be changed in a democratic system. Freedoms once lost are extremely difficult and costly to regain.

Please keep that in mind on November 5, or even prior to it. 

P.S. I welcome comments and opposing perspectives either publicly here on EIL or personally via email.

P.P.S. It turns out, I am in good company, as the New York Times agrees with me in their online editorial of September 30, calling Kamala Harris “the only patriotic choice” for President of the United States:

“It is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump. He has proved himself morally unfit for an office that asks its occupant to put the good of the nation above self-interest. He has proved himself temperamentally unfit for a role that requires the very qualities — wisdom, honesty, empathy, courage, restraint, humility, discipline — that he most lacks.”

Basel Al-Aswad, father of EIL founder Christopher Al-Aswad, is a yogi trapped in an Orthopedic Surgeon’s body. His loves in life include reading, writing, hiking, enjoying nature, meditation, and spending time with his large Iraqi family; now, semi-retired, he is exploring new avenues in medicine, education, public speaking, teaching, and social engagement.