Push All The Buttons

My goal is not to shove information into your head. It’s to find ways to reignite the curiosity that we all had as children for the natural world. You don’t have to tell a child to explore the backyard.

Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson

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Word search, crosswords, Scrabble, Wordle… you name it, I love word games. I’ve been playing, and for the most part, continuously besting one friend in Words with Friends (WWF) for years.

My perpetually game winning challenged friend, called last week and without a greeting said, ”did you know there were add-ons you could use to enhance WWF game play?”

I started laughing immediately, “do you know me at all? OF COURSE, I knew! There are literally bells and whistles on the page, all manner of shiny buttons waiting to be pushed.”

Incredulously, he asked, “do you use them?”

In stitches I replied, “sir, please refer to my answer of your first question.”

Silence.

“As funny as this is all is to me, I thought you knew. How did you just find out? Most intriguingly, you’ve never been curious to see what any of these buttons could do?”

“My cousin mentioned these extra features when I said that I could rarely beat you. I never really thought about those buttons. When I’m playing, I’m focused on the game and just trying to unwind from a long day.” (I can understand this, because I know him. He also isn’t bad at the game, I’m just better.) Contemplatively he then says, ”I guess I know how you’ve been able to beat me so often, that wouldn’t have happened without them.”

I realize he just entered the Seven Stages of WWF Grief, because now he’s talking like someone in the depths of denial. This manages to set me off into a new round of chuckles, and I get to course correcting his erroneous thought process. “Let’s not get it twisted, my good man. I have, can and will continue to decimate you on a digital or physical board without assistance.”

We say our goodbyes, him vowing like Inigo Montoya to win future matches. Should I tell him about my Wordle strategy, or nah?

I thought about him not pushing any of those buttons to avail himself of the features and how much like life this can be sometimes. The world and our options are so vast, yet, many times we aren’t curious to explore, press buttons, step outside of our comfort zones to see what else is out there or even ask simple questions. We took TLC’s musical suggestion to heart, didn’t chase waterfalls and got comfortable in those rivers and lakes we already knew. How’s that working out?

As I make my way through this #JourneyToL, I’m going to do even more exploring and press all the buttons I can. Nothing left on the table. How about you? Are you leaving any buttons unpressed?

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