THE PURSUIT OF THE DREAM
Small goals can add up to big profits
By Frank Scoblete
Mankind is the pursuing of dreams animal; even when we are wide awake our dreams can drive us forward. Indeed, much of man’s accomplishments on this planet come from such pursuits of dreams. Our books and movies reflect our pursuits — often ending in loss of some kind.
Indiana Jones feverishly pursued the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark. He found it too — only to lose it in the end. Tarzan pursued Jane in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ brilliant book Tarzan of the Apes. He found her too – only to lose her in the end. Perhaps the greatest of our literary dream pursuers was Odysseus from Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey.
After fighting in the Trojan War for 10 long years, Odysseus created the strategy of the “gift horse” in order to fool the Trojans into accepting a giant horse as a gift to end the war. The Trojans foolishly believed their 10-year dream of seeing this bloody war finally end had now come true. It certainly did come true, just not the way they wanted, as the Greek soldiers hidden in the horse came out at night and opened the gates to Troy. The war ended as the Trojans dreamed, but it ended with them losing and being destroyed.
But it didn’t end there.
After the seemingly endless war, Odysseus wandered the seas, trying to accomplish his personal dream, to find his way home to his beautiful wife, Penelope. After many wild adventures he did finally get home to Ithaca and his beloved wife. His dream ultimately ended well as he retired far from the sea.
Thankfully, not all of our dreams end badly. Some actually end well.
Slot players have dreams of various kinds. Some dream of winning the big life-changing jackpots; those in the multi-millions of dollars. A rare few see their dream realized. The overwhelming majority of the big dreamers end up never coming close to a victory. They are —sadly — the Trojans in the war of chance, a long battle with defeat at the end.
Other slot players are more modest in their dreams. They eschew those life-changing machines; these players just want a victory, be it small, medium or somewhat large and they want it today.
Many of these players end up losing, true, but plenty of these players actually win today and go home with such a victory. Regardless of size a victory makes them rejoice.
I think of a winner — even a small winner — as the Odysseus of slot play. Keep in mind, most slot players are long-term warriors. You’ll find some new ones on any given day but most players? They are in the long-run war versus Dame Fortune. Even small victories in a long war are welcomed.
