I love watching people. I love sitting in public place, watching people and trying to piece together their story.

Why is she sitting like that? What must she be thinking?
Why did they just get up and move over there?
I wonder if they know each other – is this a first date, maybe?

Even when I don’t mean to be doing it, I do it sometimes.

Recently, I’ve been considering what people are thinking when they drive aggressively. We have all seen the person weaving in and out of lanes only to arrive at the same red light, possibly even to run that red light. We’ve all seen people take risk with little to no potential for offsetting return.

It happened to me again on my way to work. There was a traffic light out at an intersection. All the lights were flashing red. Some people stopped. Some slowed down. Some coming from all four directions, mind you – did neither – I assume they interpreted the flaw in the system as something that needed to be exploited.

I find myself wondering what they’re thinking. You know, everything makes perfect sense to someone, just not you. It has to make sense to the person taking on all this risk to take it on, but I can’t for the life of me figure what that sense is.

Is it the thrill of driving fast?
Is it the feeling of “winning” something?

I think that might be it. The thrill of winning. Maybe they’re saying to themselves: “Ha ha. I passed you on the street. Now I am victorious and I have defeated you at this game we’re both playing.”

Some people turn life into a puzzle. I’m one of those people. Some, it appears turn it into a game. Both have flaws.

Puzzle people (like me) operate with an underlying belief (Big Assumption) that there is a right answer – that the puzzle should look a certain way when its done.

Game people (like those risky drivers) operate with an underlying belief (Big Assumption) that every scenario results in winners and losers.

Maybe the American Dream is more like an American Game. Some winners, lots of losers with the dream being just that American was a place where everyone at least got dealt a hand and invited to play.