the win

What is it to win, to truly win? It is to prove your superiority over an opponent, to get inside his head, tear him down from the inside out, and make him know, in no uncertain terms, who his better is. That’s winning. And to effectively win a contest over another, you must hate, or at least successfully simulate hate, for the duration of the contest. Without this passion, you will not be the victor, but the loser. You won an argument the other day with your boyfriend. Remember?

There’s an old cliché, a platitude, a trite remark, if you will, that says: all is fair in love and war. I guess when it comes right down to it the two aren’t even really all that different. Two words meaning the same thing. Synonyms, almost. You love him, but he is your opponent. At times, you hate him, but are bound to him by that very hate in that instant; a bind easily as strong as love itself, and equally hard to break. The line between the two emotions becomes as blurry as the difference in water on one side of a pool and the other. You swim from love to hate and back again so fluidly, you hardly notice the change in your environment. Once submerged beneath the surface of these waters, you’re easily confused - but it matters, not. From The Illuminati, by Robert Shea and Robert Anton-Wilson: "You are attached to what you attack." Even in hate, in war, you are bound as closely as in love.

You won an argument the other day with your boyfriend. Remember? Your boyfriend, your lover, your challenger, competitor, rival – adversary. In the span of a single day, he can assume all of these roles and be none the wiser. And if you’re lucky, you’ll be as clueless, never knowing in which side of the pool you swim.