The World Played Chess

by Robert Dugoni

Every minute of every day is a gift, and growing old a privilege, not a right.

The world, it seemed, had been busy playing chess, While I had played checkers . . . and ignored the rest.

Someone once said that failure is easier to live with than regret, and it pierced my heart like an arrow. Dreams are hard to catch, aren’t they? Especially if you don’t have the courage to try.

“Never take anything that doesn’t belong to you or that you haven’t earned,” he said, sliding into the car. “You never know who you’re stealing from, and what that money means to them.”

I am like the pencil I constantly sharpen with a knife; I am just a dull nub of the person I was.

learn just one thing from his death, if you learn that life is fragile at any age, and that every day is a gift. His death won’t be for nothing if you learn to celebrate each morning that you wake, take a breath, and realize you’re still alive and the day is filled with endless potential.”

Sometimes bad luck is really dumb actions or inaction. You can make your own luck by making smart decisions.”

I’ve come to realize that no situation is hopeless unless we let it be.