A Game of One or Many?

Uno has taught me one life lesson: when you cherish something, cherish it with your whole self.

If you don't know what Uno is, it's a fairly simple and fun card game; it requires the players to match colored cards in their hand with the card on the top of the pile and the goal is to be the first person out of cards. To add a little spice, there's also skip, reverse, draw two, and wild cards - these are the value cards. They're not technically named "value" cards in the rules, but that's what I've come to known them as after working at Children's Inn.

Every kid I know loves to play Uno. Heck, every adult I know loves to play Uno. I had never really looked at it as a game to teach a lesson. One child changed.

I was playing a fast flying game of Uno with two kids in shelter; one had just recently learned how to play and was still getting the hang of the strategy. His hands were small and wasn't able to hold all seven (or more) cards in his hand at a time; he'd lay all the cards he "didn't want" in a pile on the table and he'd hold his value cards in his hand. His value cards were, of course, the skips, reverses, draw twos, and wilds.

When he'd discarded all the cards he didn't want, he was usually forced to look into his pile of value cards. I'd encourage him to lay these card. He'd stubbornly shake his head and tell me he'd rather draw a new card. I explained to him that in order to win the game he'd have to lay these cards down. He didn't care. He wanted to hold them; he was willing to sacrifice winning the game so that he could hold on those value cards.

These cards meant something to him; he cherished them because they had worth, they were his treasure.

It's moments like this where I realize these children have lessons to teach. I don't know this child's back story; I don't know where he's been, what he's seen or experienced. But he valued these cards as if they were gems; he refused to let them go and he wanted nothing more than to hold them, look at them, and enjoy them while he could.

Maybe, in a life where we take so many things for granted, we can follow this little boy's footsteps. Shouldn't we all value the things we love with the relish this boy did?