“Why can’t Donny and I ever play?” pleaded my sister, Ethel. Donny’s older brother, Gary, and I would challenge each other to a game of Monopoly in our cool, sheltered basement during the hot, muggy days of summer vacation in lower Michigan. Monopoly was the only way you could handle big bucks in those skimping days of the Great Depression. We were ten years old and didn’t want our game slowed down by a couple of little six year old siblings.

But they kept begging until we finally gave in and let them play. Bubbling with enthusiasm they eagerly anticipated demonstrating how well they could hold their own in this challenge against age and experience.

Actually they soon went bankrupt and the game was down to Gary and me anyway. We didn’t even notice how devastated the kids were as they silently slipped over to the basement stairs and pulling themselves up by the handrail disappeared in search of something else to do.

It never occurred to us to give them a handicap and make it a fun time for all. We had no idea that helping someone else be successful could be more fun than winning, and that gaining the life-long friendship of a young sibling of more value than being king of the Monopoly mountain.

So goes the cruel, dog eat dog world of children. Years have passed and many things have changed, but one thing remains the same: everybody needs to win occasionally.

Listen to "Laying Down Your Life"