The 1978 song The Gambler by Kenny Rogers is a favorite of mine. I think its popularity, beyond Kenny’s warm, appealing voice, relates to the poetic lyrics that pluck at the heartstrings. The words wrap a deeper meaning about how we live our lives using the imagery of an old-time gambler sharing some advice. They’re relatable since many of us are familiar with games like poker, either from playing or seeing scenes in movies.

The lyrics, woven into country music and sung with Kenny’s gravelly voice, easily bypass the thinking brain, enrich our hearts as the song plays. Watching the music video, I’m drawn in by this gentry gambler in 1800’s garb, slowly shedding his coat and gun, sitting at a poker table, riffling his money and pouring a shot of whiskey. The scene fashions images of cards being dealt, chips tossed, betting rounds, cashing in. The song’s popularity won it a Grammy and later inspired several made-for-television movies starring Rogers as a gambler teaching a young protégé the tricks of the trade.

I chuckle at how the highlights and lowlights of life, of my life, are mirrored in the game of poker. A deck of cards with different values, having a hand dealt to you, the random cards you get each time, it fits with how life comes to most of us. And the eventual hold ‘em, fold ‘em choice is something we all face in many of the big and small decisions in our lives. There’s no intricate, layered, complexity here. We all figure out how to play the game at some level, but our success, well, that’s part of the adventure of living, isn’t it?

Playing the video again, several sentences stood out for me. Come on, put on your cowboy hat, light a cigar, grab a deck of cards and let’s stroll through the song.

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em – there’s decisions in life where I have some control. I often need a dollop of wisdom dropped in to know when to hold’em, that is, to stay in the game until it’s time to act. It takes patience, not my strong point. Then there’s times it’s wiser to yield control to someone or something else. Fold’em doesn’t mean quitting the game. Instead, it’s looking towards the next hand and how to play it. No ‘checking out’ here.

Know when to walk away, and know when to run – this is counter to the cultural pressure I feel immersed in, the stand firm, fight back, make a difference, you can do it ethos. While all those are important, sometimes wisdom knocks on my door and says the risk is too high, the potential loss too big. I’ve not been in these situations, but an abusive spouse, demeaning work situation, or a toxic friend are good reasons to walk or run away and start anew. It reminds me of a scene in the movie Forest Gump when Forest’s friend yells at him to ‘Run, Forest, run!’ away from some bullies, and he soon finds a freedom he never expected – that he didn’t need leg braces.

You never count your money, when you’re sittin’ at the table – doesn’t the truth of that resonate? Shallowness, greed, the shortsighted thought of what can I get out of something now. I feel that temptation on a sillier level when buying items on Amazon. It’s too easy to click ‘buy now’ when something catches my eye instead of being financial diligent and closing the browser, holding off the ‘I want it now’ demand trilling in my head.

There’ll be time enough for countin’, when the dealin’s done – a more poetic way of saying ‘don’t count your chickens before they hatch.’  Being an engineer and IT analyst, I’m better at this, both at work and life. I usually do a review after I’ve finished a project or endeavor. That’s when I (should) count the good, the bad, and the ugly (thank-you Clint Eastwood). It’s a helpful way to gain wisdom.

That the secret to survivin’, is knowin’ what to throw away, and knowin’ what to keep – this is similar to ‘when to walk, when to run’ but deals with the ‘stuff’ of our lives, what we keep that ultimately encumbers us. I didn’t notice this in my younger years, but it accumulated over time like moss growing on a rock. I’ve garnered too many patches of moss in my life, things I don’t need or use. Reduction remains a work in progress.

If you’re gonna play the game, boy, you gotta learn to play it right – the old timer’s final words to the gambler are spot on. We all have a conscience and know the better choices, the ‘right’ decisions. Yet it’s easy to let squinted eyes drift to another player’s hand, to shave black and white rules into gray what ifs. It’s work and effort to keep eyes forward, to tame selfish desires, to choose the right. We all want that rigor in our children. Shouldn’t we also for ourselves?

I played the video again (and again), resonating with the music, the images and the words. Go ahead, give it a look. You won’t be disappointed. [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hx4gdlfamo ]