The Power of the Card
by Barbara Rogers Bridges
I invite you, dear reader, to consider your life as a deck of cards.
The deck was shuffled by forces far beyond your control — God, fate, your parents, genetics, and possibly a cosmic dealer who had already been imbibing before the game even started. However, it happened, the cards were dealt long before you realized you were sitting at the table.
You didn’t shuffle the deck.
You just picked up your hand and hoped for the best.
But you’re still here.
Over the years you’ve played your cards as wisely as possible. You’ve discarded a few, drawn new ones, bluffed when necessary, and occasionally stared down at your hand wondering if the dealer had confused you with someone they didn’t like.
Which raises an interesting question:
What is the most powerful card in the world?
Some people immediately say a credit card. That’s a very popular answer, and also one of the most dangerous. Credit cards have financed everything from dream vacations to disastrous hair transplants, and they have a remarkable ability to turn ordinary purchases into lifelong financial relationships.
Others might choose a birthday card. There is something oddly touching about someone remembering the exact day you arrived on Earth — especially once you reach an age where you’re frankly impressed you’re still here to celebrate it.
But my mother had a completely different answer. She believed the most powerful card in the world was her driver’s license. Every morning she used it to drive to the cemetery to visit my father’s grave.To her, that little plastic card wasn’t just permission to drive. It was independence. It meant she could get in the car, turn the key, and go see the man she had loved for seventy years — without asking anyone for a ride.
Have you ever heard of an AGE card? Read on.
Here Are the Power Cards Which Have Influenced My Life
The Library Card
In Bangor, Maine, at St. John’s Catholic School, a young girl sat on the brick wall in her plaid pleated skirt exactly 4 inches below her knee. That girl was me. I hated the scratchy wool knee length socks which crept out of my regulation Buster Brown shoes. I complained regularly about the socks to no avail. No one seemed chagrined in the least when I was diagnosed with a severe allergy to wool years later.
On the school playground I looked with disdain at the knots of giggling girls who whispered and pointed – sometimes at me.
I looked longingly at the boy’s side of the play yard where kickball, jacks, marbles and tag were being played. Everyone seemed to be laughing and having fun over there.
Every once in awhile, I would dash over to join the fun, only to be taken inside and installed in the corner chair for breaking the rules. Most often, I would bring my book out on the brick wall (where they made the girls sit) and read. What an escape tool – better than drugs and a lot less destructive. I read biographies and Nancy Drew type girl-power mysteries. Did you experience the power of the library card when you were younger? Did you read about other ways to live in other places far, far away?
The Library Card, my friend, may be the most dangerous and powerful card in the world. It does not matter if your card produces instant digital access or if you consume your knowledge in a hard cover book on your bedside table. The library card gives you access to the cumulative thinking of hundreds of cultures over thousands of years.
The Thank You Card is also in contention for my most powerful card. My mother forced me to write them. I hated it. Now I make my own cards and write personal messages on them in my messy handwriting. It is difficult to describe how positively people respond to this example of my high regard for them. Awwww, I think, when I receive one it makes me feel connected in this impersonal world.
The Credit Card
When I ask people to name the most powerful card in their lives, they often cite their credit card. Credit Cards ARE powerful. Cash is no longer king. How many restaurants require you to scan a digital menu now? There are often software glitches and you have to start all over again if you would like a second drink. I vote a big NO. I also think this development oppresses older people. Some of my friends still have flip phones!
I guess we oldsters have served our purpose so perhaps we should just all go eat worms and die now!? When I go out to a restaurant it is less about the food and more about the company, new cuisine ideas, the conversation and being waited on like a princess!!
The Cribbage Cards – King, Queen, Jack
My only consistent experience with playing cards was learning my numbers playing cribbage. In Maine, we start teaching our children cribbage at around age 5. Adding, subtracting, dividing…cribbage does it all. Playing cards also have an interesting history. Early on, they were designed so no matter how you held the face cards, they were right side up. The 52 card deck originated in China in the late 1300s with the King and Jack (Knight) appearing in the 1400s, and the Queen emerging about 100 years later. (Just like women’s right to vote in the US of A!). Did you play Hearts, Bridge, Rummy? Do you still? Games are a pretty safe way to get a little endorphin hit.
The Business Card
The paper business card has fallen out of fashion. I spent most of my various careers (production artist, art teacher, professor, online learning speaker, foundation director) working the room collecting future contacts. I have to admit, if they did not have a business card, I saw them as less than serious. How would I have remembered everyone I spoke to? Those follow up contacts often bore fruit. Today, when I ask some people for a business card, they act like I am single handedly responsible for destroying our planet. Currently, I ask for their phone number so I can text them. Arrrrgggghh – more abstract disconnectedness.
Social Security and Medicare Cards
When I turned 65, I thought, “Hooray! Payday!” I would finally start receiving some of the money that I had been grudgingly sending to the federal government all my working years. I could have done a better job investing that money myself. As I age, I have adopted a Repair and Replace attitude. Medicare pays for us to embrace this philosophy. Just don’t start making your social life connected to all your medical appointments- like some ghoulish dance card.
The Age Card
I am from Maine. We elect Independent senators and governors. Some might disagree but I feel quite confident in describing Maine as leaning libertarian. Not everyone has formal schooling but many are readers and want to see the facts before they draw conclusions. The state moto is “Dirigo”, a Latin word meaning “I direct” or “I lead”. The motto could just as easily be “ You’re Not The Boss of Me.” I share this Maine cultural marker with you to provide context on how independent I am. I have taken great pride in the fact that I have executed most of my own home maintenance, managed my own books and am still able to, occasionally, spank my younger opponents out on the pickleball court. In other words, I am culturally programmed to not ask for help.
I live in Zihuatenjo, Mexico during the winter. I make art while I am there. I travel with five suitcases – mostly art supplies. Recently, I developed a terrible case of bronchitis several days before I left Minnesota. The normal 4 hour trip turned into 7 hours while we went back to the hanger to de-ice three times. By the time I arrived in the 2 hour customs line, I was whimpering – out loud!. I felt a little dizzy. I looked at the several men with transport chairs hovering nearby. I approached one of them and said, truthfully, “I do not feel well.” Within seconds they had me and my suitcases whisked past customs, my passport stamped and my entire kit and kaboodle out by the taxi stand. Holy mother, I felt embarrassed, but I am 75 years old… if not now – when?
Play the Age Card, baby. No apologies.