The Good Struggle

CHAPTER TWO

AM I REALLY GRAPPLING WITH THE FUNDAMENTALS?

Many children, all around the world, play a game called “Chutes and Ladders” or “Snakes and Ladders” that is actually an ancient Indian game. This simple, innocent amusement serves as a remarkably accurate and disconcerting image of life and work. In the game, players roll dice and try to move from the bottom to the top of a decorated board. Landing on a ladder lets a player move rapidly toward the top and victory, and landing on a chute or snake means sliding downward. In just a few moves, players can move rapidly up to the brink of success, and then lose almost everything on the next move.

Although the game is now a pastime, the original Indian version had a serious moral purpose. It ...