Didn't I, my love?

People are peculiar.
Today I visited a ward that isn't my own and had the pleasure of sitting next to a little boy, most likely 8 years old.
During the meeting he leaned over and asked if I wanted to play tic-tac toe with him.
At this moment I realized again my lack of talent with regards to the young. I wanted to win a simple tic-tac-toe game. After the first win I of course wanted the little boy to have his chance. 
I made obvious places for him to go but it just seemed he could not discover them and lost every time, or at least had a game of cats.
We continued to play the dot game, the one where you draw a line, and eventually when three lines are drawn if you're the person to draw the fourth you get a point, and get to go again. After a couple of obvious draws the boy would make it so that I had the chance to get a box my next turn. 
At first I would take the box to show him his mistake.
After awhile of playing I began to experiment. If I offered him the same chance to get a box he wouldn't take it.
Eventually when I stopped taking the chance to get a point as well, he whispered to me, "you should go right there."
It was then I realized this boy wasn't bad at these games at all, quite good in fact, but he wanted me to win. He wished that I would get the points. 
I did everything I could to let him win but his innocence would not break. 
During one of our final games of tic-tac-toe I made it so the only square left forced him to get three in a row. 
In regards to his inevitable win he asked, "Do I have to go right there?"
"Why don't you like winning?" I replied.
"I like it better when other people win."


My mind was blown, and those little strings on my heart were pulled more tightly in. This perfect boy didn't play to win, he played to play. He wanted other people to win because it made them happy. 
What a peculiar boy. His simplicity turned into perfection in my mind. 


He didn't like winning. He didn't play to win. He played for others to win. 




If only we were all like this 8 year old boy.
If only we all played for other people to win. 




Imagine that.