A Steady and Subtle Game

“It's hard to win, easy to lose
We play a game we cannot choose
As steady as a rocking horse, as subtle as a bruise.”

     Life is a game. Life itself is an RPG game with lots of characters and many mini game quests that give compensations when they are accomplished. The mini game quests include exams, college entrance, employment, marriage, earning money, nurturing sons and daughters, and successful retire.  Therefore, I play numerous games in my life. Moreover, those quests usually require steady work, and they are so subtle that a small mistake can lead the quests to a total failure. Countless things around me are steady and subtle games. Nowadays, I am carrying on a mini game called ‘studying physics’, which is required to accomplish to start a new quest of a higher level called ‘being a physicist’.

     I think that studying and playing an RPG game is same in their essences. When you study, you are given a question, or a task. Then, you should wander around the world of knowledge, as you walk around the world of an RPG game as a character. Next, you learn, and you become able to complete the task. After then, you are able to be promoted to the next level, and are given more complicated tasks. Moreover, as the lyrics of the song “Waiting” says, it is hard to win and easy to lose. To win, you should concentrate and work hard, but to lose, you may simply give up. However, since you should advance to the next level, you have no choice but to participate on the game. As a student who dreams to be a physicist, studying physics is difficult but inevitable. Particularly, studying physics is more similar to a game than studying other subjects to me, because I enjoy exploring the knowledge of physics as the game users enjoy exploring the marvelous worlds of an RPG game. Therefore, studying physics is a game.

     The game of studying physics is ‘as steady as a rocking horse’. Physics is a very broad subject that covers from the most basic particles to the whole universe. Therefore, studying physics definitely needs a long-term work. In addition, when you study physics, you might encounter extremely long and complicated calculations. To follow the calculations, you should be painstaking and patient. I often get fed up reading through the calculations that sometimes extends to three full pages. I should be steadier in studying physics. Moreover, unfamiliar concepts and problems of physics need enough time of contemplation to be understood. Studying physics becomes meaningless if you hastily search the answer keys, relinquishing to think more. Long time of contemplation can only be successful by steadiness. For these reasons, studying physics is a steady work.

     Studying physics is as subtle as a bruise. Physics does not allow the slightest mistake. A single calculation mistake can totally ruin the whole solution of a problem. A single misconception can destroy one’s entire system of understanding the physical phenomenon. Particularly, in modern physics, the concept of particles and waves starts to be confusing. Modern physics teaches us that particles have the natures of waves and waves have the natures of particles, although particles and waves are classified by their distinctive natures. In addition, according to the uncertainty principle, the displacement and momentum of a particle vary in the same initial conditions. These concepts of modern physics are so abstract and confusing that they generate numerous misconceptions in students’ brains. However, physics does not accept any of those misconceptions. One with misconceptions would not be able to explain any of the phenomenon in modern physics precisely. Therefore, studying physics is very subtle.

     In conclusion, studying physics is an RPG game that is difficult but should be accomplished. Studying physics needs a steady and painstaking work. It is so subtle that no mistake or misconception is allowed. A long journey is left in my quest. It would take more than ten years, as I would study physics in college, master course, and doctor course. I hope I would accomplish the quest and be promoted to the next level.