The original contest Blog and all the answers given is here:
http://www.railbirds.com/blog/212917/5-contest-the-perfect-thief.html
The boy awakes to find himself on the Chessboard. And, as always, it is for the first time.
The squares, alternately black and white, tumble to the horizon on all sides. Countless thousands of squares. Smoothly polished, gleaming endlessly in the white sun.
There is no sound. Only the weight of nonsound. The terrifying weight of silence in a great void.
The boy sits on a white square. He blinks, stretches, and looks curiously about him. He looks up at the sky, empty but for a huge, round sun. Swollen a hundred times the size of the sun we all know.
The boy looks at the hard, smooth surface of his perfect white square and can see only his own reflection. He smiles down at the image. It has been a wonderful rest, and it is certainly a glorious morning. A perfect morning. Pure and clear and perfect.
The boy has not the slightest thought of where he is to go, of what he is to do.
The Others move constantly. At different intervals, in all directions, keeping always to the white squares. The boy is pleased to have begun on a white square. Clearly this is a fine beginning. The boy sits beautifully still for a time. It would be foolish to set out not knowing where one was to go.
He watches the Others moving through the endlessly alternating maze of black and white and black, glimmering forever under the hard, white sun. They are dressed in dull, white cloth, which does not, or cannot, reflect the brilliance of the white squares through which they move so soundlessly.
The boy believes that they are guards. He cannot imagine what there might be for them to guard in the purity and emptiness of such a place.
There is no air. There is no sound. The awesome enormity of his surroundings holds the boy. Black and white and black. Sterile and clear, shimmering to infinity.
The boy sits through the bright, hot morning. It is late in the afternoon before he sees the ones who are not guards. They are few, and they are very far away, but he sees them clearly. Their cloth is black, but they are set apart from the guards even more certainly by the grace and ease of their movements. The boy believes that they are thieves but cannot imagine what there might be for them to steal in such a place. They walk with a fluid nobility that entrances the boy, and he strains his eyes to watch them until the last one is only a speck at an immeasurable distance.
The boy rises without knowing why. He unfolds his long young legs and walks to a black square. The black squares are empty, and he can look down the gleaming black diagonal to the far end of the Chessboard.
The boy walks the black diagonal, but he does not see another thief. After a time he doubts that he has ever seen one.
---Ronald J. Bass "The Perfect Thief"
The Contest:
- Leave a comment or send me a PM. I will post any PMs in a comment myself. So save me the hassle.
- Use ONE word to say what you think the/a "Perfect Thief" is.
- Then explain WHY you think it is the/a "Perfect Thief".
- One entry per person.
- Contest ends 2100 FTP - Tuesday - November 11th.
- The person who gives me my favorite word with accompanying explanation will be rewarded with their choice of $5 on pokerstars or full tilt.
- I will review the answers and then announce the winner Wednesday or Thursday evening.
My favorite word/explanation may be serious & philosophical or topical & funny.
It may or may not be about poker.
I just don't know yet.
Give me your best and entertain me
David
The Winner!!!!
This was my favorite answer.
It was deep and well thought out.
Even if in his opinion it drifted into self analysis...LOL
I will be contacting him and sending $5 on his choice of PS or FTP br />
Congrats GWD!!!!
There could very well be 2 theives at work here, but I believe the boy's thief here is "Perception"... The way he sees the world is keeping the truth from him...
The boy seems to have visualised an allegory to his (current?) life in the form of a chessboard, for the purposes of rendering his fears, strengths, weaknesses, feelings and self-opinions open for subconscious examination under the 'hard light of day'. He sees the familiarity of the chessboard environment, but is struck with not knowing what to do - which would be to make a move.
He appears to have eliminated all other real world reference points, except the sun, and it's not a standard sun at that. It's much larger and whiter, so he perceives this light entity as all that is required above him to see clearly...
He has categorised the 'others' occupying the same space, but on the move, as guards - possibly by their shape. In this 'dreamspace' he needs to attribute self-security in order not to move, or for that matter, make a decision. It could be argued that these 'others' are a construction closely resembling "bishops" - the top of the bishop in chess may very well be similar to the helmet of a guard to a boy. If they are are all around and and moving, then he perceives his position as safe...
He also takes to time to observe himself in his current environment, and although not specifically stated, he is an unaltered entity in this space, and he is happy with this vision - making sure that his perception of himself is who he expects to see - a conforting attribute.
The 'thief' he categorises as something different on the landscape. It appears to be a simplifcation of a greater intrinsic fear he has of those he not necessarily understands or likes. This could be a synonym for simplistic 'racism', 'fascism' (much less likely) or 'broken trust' from the point of view of an inexperienced mind. I think of the "Queen" in chess, as if the board is a continuous entity without a true restriction on how many of each chess piece can be seen, the nobility,grace and scarcesness he attributes to these entities easily fits a Queen. The perception of the queen as a thief and as something he eventually doubts he may have even seen could be likened to that of an unattentive or never around mother who despite not giving him the time he would like to receive from her, she always manages to 'steal' his favour back again at those irregular intervals she does show attention - the reasons for this could be many, but his perception of her in this way 'steals' his ability to appreciate that which she is and is trying to be...
... oh, damn... that trickled over into self-analysis... Hello, I'd like to book in to see a psychiatrist, I'm clearly ***ed in the head... lol
The Honorable Mention!!!
Got the exact same answer I thought of myself.
I will be sending them $1 on PS as a bonus winner.
TEMPTATION
"And Lead Us Not Into Temptation..... But Deliver Us From Evil"
Temptation is the root of all evil....Which in turn robs (Thieves)us of our innocence. The young man was tempted with curiousity....
The Best Of The Rest!!!!!
These just were good answers, or funny ones.
A Perfect Thief is indecision - it makes us doubt what we thought we knew, as time marches on.
FEAR is the perfect thief. It steals our time and abilities.
The perfect thief is Apathy-the thief of time
I would explain, but I really don't care enough
Talking about the boy in the story bigpoppa? or me?...LOL 
Insanity
I think the boy is in an asylum
Indecision.
If you don't know where you are, you can't know where you are going...
Knight
He works on the inside and moves from white to black and back to white again. He is able to steal whatever he wants without his move being predicted or seen very easily. He is also not suspected because he is thought of as honorable.
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dicks |
Nov 9, 2008 2:37 am |
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Temptation
Arguably man's greatest fallacy. It has the ability to take everything, and is ever-present.
The Perfect Thief?
David, on a Sunday morning after the
party the night before, you steal my thoughts by challenging my brain to come up with a response to your blog. This morning you are the perfect thief---------quit hurting my head!!!
The perfect thief is the growing up of a person and the stealing of ones innocence.
Each day as a child the boy wakes up into a whole new world where everything is pure and simple. Unspoilt and his confusion stems from not knowing what all this is about. What is life ? To a child, life is so simple, pure and there are only things that appear black and white. the other. there is no mixing of the two.
The immense size of the board represents how large the world appears to a child. Infinite and never ending. The guards symbolise childhood and offer him protection from the harsh realities of the world.
As he chooses his path to adulthood he loses the fear of becoming an adult and the guards protecting his childhood disappear. Eventually as he reaches adulthood he is no longer scared of growing up and he has no need for the guards. However he loses the fear of reaching adulthood and thus the thieves who would steal his childhood disappear and eventually he believes that the fears he had about growing up never really existed in the first place.
I have thought of the word to describe it.. MATURITY
Doubt
If second guessing causes me to lose a dream or fail to take advantage of an adventure, it has been stolen from me. But I never blame anything for my lose other than myself. I create doubt's alibi. Doubt remains free to steal again while I pay the price for whatever was stolen.
The perfect thief: "INDECISION" Not knowing what ones purpose/intention in life, can open one up to paths illogical. We may spend more time looking, analyzing, what ifing and never gain momentum towards our purpose. The goal, of course isn't to arrive somewhere, but to pick a path and walk that path with vigor and conviction! Pausing only long enough to assess direct and indirect influences, but returning to a forward path walking ASAP. Decide on a purpose and Pursue it. Stolen decisions: Dance as though no one is watching you. Love as though you have never been hurt before. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth. Peace, FLOW
Interesting blog
You david AKA a55a55in are the thief.
You have stolen all of our time, 5 pages worth of people's time using a well crafted contest on an online poker forum; using an excerpt from a well known screenwriter's book.
A clever thief you are offering a prize to somewhat broke and somewhat needy railbirds to fuel their almost always dwindling micro bankrolls.
Sitting here for hours upon hours re reading the long excerptt...wondering who the hell the perfect thief really is and i finally realizedd with all the other things i shouldve been doing...my work, my studies..i was paying attention and trying to come up with a solution for YOUR question.
YOU have robbed me david, of my time, my money and now after writing this, MY DIGNITY.
the silent a55a55in.
Thanks to everyone who played!!!!
David
© Copyright 2009
8 comments
All of this is way over this Hillbilly's head
The perfect thief is the guy who don't get caught
The "Perfet Thief" in the beginning is Society, he is afraid because there are so many white-robed people out there, that something may happen to him if he tries a black-robed or black square tradition,
I believe the "Perfect Thief" at the end is his mind,
It has stolen his thoughts and stashed them away to far better places,
now able to think outside of the box, he has moved on.
He is surrounded by others who do not speak to him ( black & white ( nonsound )
The weight is the sadness pulling down on the boy, wishing someone would speak to him,
He looks in the sky as there is no where else to look , everything else has left him
Soon he looks at his own reflection, thinks of all the great things in his life, his family, his pride, his friends, all the outsides do not effect him anymore
He only steps on white squares, as black squares hold terrible endings, such as homework, bullies, Micheal Jackson....
He watches others walk into the shadows, their piercing times of making him glum has suspended
He thinks they are guards because of their endless pattern every day,
Their pattern of black and white and black and white just cannot resist him
He has moved on to better days, other than watching this putrid street trash
It is the still New York City, without the hookers,drunken celebs.
He sees few Black-Robed people far away, but very clearly because they have opened into him and he has started to believe what the game of life is all about. His thoughts gushing with hope and pride, cannot ruin his oservations
He thinks of the squares, so dashingly terrible, He takes a step into the black space, and soon is walking the game of life
He has finished his journey of life, and now going into the open world, has figured out he wanted to be a Black-Robed person, with so many races tied into him he bracens this one thought
He doubts he ever saw another thief now that he has grown and is now into the open pattern
He starts a new pattern, that could never change how others make him think at all
Thank you David |A55A55IN| for sharing this delightful poem with me and all other railbirds. You take a lot of your time to read others' work, you don't get any credit to yourself,
Thankyou.
We have transferred $1.00 from your account to 'vivibit' as per your request.
Good luck to you both.
Regards,
PokerStars Cashier
good contestt...
congrats to the winner...when i read his entry i thought to myself "ohh hes taking this one down" lol good answer...congrats.
anywhoo...glad to see i made the honorable mentions lol
have another one of these thhings a55a55in.....its always nice to see different things lke this on theblog scene here.
Thank you once again David! Was a pleasure contributing to a very interesting,well thought out blog!
Cheesy(vivibit)
Cheers, thanks for the prize, but thanks for the story and the chance to use braincells for something other than sponging poker knowledge
Hello A55A55IN,
We have transferred $5.00 from your account to '2_GWD_2' as per your request.
Good luck to you both.
Regards,
PokerStars Cashier
It made some interesting reading!!!