You asked me to teach you chess
and I’ve done that.
It’s a useful mental exercise.
And through the years,
many thinkers
have been fascinated by it.
But I don’t enjoy playing.
Do you know why not?
Because it was a game
that was born
during a brutal age,
when life counted for little.
And everyone believed
that some people
were worth more than others.
Kings and pawns.
I don’t think that anyone is
worth more than anyone else.
I don’t envy you the decisions
you’re gonna have to make.
And one day I’ll be gone,
and you’ll have no one
to talk to.
But if you remember
nothing else,
please remember this.
Chess is just a game.
Real people aren’t pieces.
And you can’t assign more value
to some of them than to others.
Not to me.
Not to anyone.
People are not a thing
that you can sacrifice.
The lesson is that anyone
who looks on the world
as if it was a game of chess
deserves to lose.