Positive Words: Persistence, Determined Strength,

¶ … POSITIVE WORDS: Persistence, Determined Strength, Transcendence, Willingness to Act, Bravery Argument: One can be transcendent without being "game" -- for example, some Tibetan Buddhists have refused to fight against abuse visited on them by Chinese communists, because of their great faith and meditative abilities which allow them to transcend the moment and endure. Similar strength may exist among others who abstain from action, such as Roman-martyred Christians.

Gameness tends to indicate that one's transcendence allows one to resist pain and continue fighting, but these people may transcend pain to a level of peaceful pacifism, or even embrace the pain as a form of mystic joy bringing them closer to deity. Counter-argument: First, the refusal to fight is itself a course of action which is being persisted in. The natural human choice would be to fight back when pushed into a corner, or at least attempt to flee.

Those who march to greet their doom in the name of religion are game to the course of action which means their suffering, even if that course is not violent. Secondly, merely because one may transcend pain in other ways does not devalue the ability to transcend pain within the context of a physical or social struggle. Argument: One may be persistent and determined without being game. Imagine the case of a commander who repeatedly sends his troops into battle to take a hill, while having wave after wave slaughtered.

His persistence shows no resistance to pain, nor any bravery.. It is (depending on the eventual likelihood of success) merely foolish or merely "necessary" for the war effort - but it is not game. Counterargument: Persistence is a virtue or a flaw depending on the way in which one is persistent. Being "Game" is a context in which being persistent is almost always admirable,.