Ok...It's been awhile since I last posted since that last essay was freakishly long and actually consumed some of my knowledge. Which brings me to the subject of knowledge. Nah I ain't gonna type some freakishly long post again,(who has the time?) instead, I plan to just write a story instead, that way it would be better for both of us....you'll have to trust me again.
Knowledge
Tyrond was a exceptionally brilliant tactician. At a very young age he was able to devise of plans and strategies which would usually effective in whatever circumstance, and quickly too. Some examples, were perhaps him playing soccer, he never actually stood on the field but he could direct his players with such swiftness and calmness that the players themselves were bolstered by his empowering voice. His soccer tatics eluded the best of teams and his strategies were so detailed that every gameplay had multiple fallbacks for respective situations and even these fallbacks have fallbacks of their own. Whoever who was in his team usually won the game. Besides soccer he also excelled in strategy games. He does not click fast nor does he the best gaming peripherals but rivals no doubt still see him as someone who they should be wary of. Strategy games was something he prided himself in and he never lost a match. His plans and devices were impeccable, no loophole could be found.
As every ant has its termite, there was another boy in the same school called Luke. Luke was no brilliant mind who could forecast any game whatsoever and was considerably lazier than Tyrond. Believable enough, Tyrond spends his hours before matches or games planning and gearing up his game plan. Contrastly, Luke hardly does any fore work and if you challenged him there and then he would most likely accept the challenge and the next secound you find yourself dealing with him. So, what's do special about Luke? For starters his mind was comparable to the smartest people ever lived. He could think of ways out, improvisions, inventions, impromtu plays and even speeches on the spot. His mind was quick and most of all, he could follow it. In this manner, he could be said to be considerably smarter than Tyrond.
Word spreads around the school, and Tyrond hears that his reputation is being overshadowed by Luke's. Consumed by anger, he goes to Luke and challenged him in what he's best at: a strategy game. Of course, Tyrond had already planned the match ever since he heard the rumours spreading and had draft and spreadsheets of calculations, predictions and strategies which could take everyone down even if it was a thousand brains to one, even if a nimwit followed the plans people would think he was a saint.
So the game chosen was a very plain game it was neither graphically estatic nor was it very exciting. the alone way to win was through tatics. Tyrond smirked at the very idea. As the two sat down oppostie one another, game loading, Tyrond flourished his plans and tatics made specially for the occasion. Luke seeing this was unfazed.
'You know, you ARE going to lose' Tyrond cautioned.
'Really? If I am then perhaps I should go get a new com, cause the only reason I am gonna lose if if my com suddenly explodes' Luke replied calmly.
'Fine.' Tyrond said defiantly as the game commenced.
There was a hundred soldiers on each team and they were suppose to destroy the opponent's base while defending their own. It was simple enough. High ground advantage, rocky fields, rivers and forested areas gave way to millions of ways to take out the opponent's hundred soldiers. Choosing a base would mean life and death. Tyrond chose his base to be on a hill with far sight range and good all-rounded defense, Luke would definitely find it hard to battle upwards. Luke casually chose a dense forest, which getting in and getting out was equally difficult. Tyrond kicked into action. he reserved 20 soldiers in base and sent the rest out. He reasoned 20 should be enough to hold out long enough for the other 80 to come back. His hill was near the centre of the map a little more inclined to the left side. There was a river forking also near the centre of the map effectively splitting the map into three. The top right of the map was where Luke's base was in a dense forest sheilded by a rocky field. There were three briges connecting each island to the next rather conveniently though the soldiers could do without the bridges. Tyrond sent 30 soldiers the top bridge near the top right of the map for brigde control and sent 30 the the bottom bridge for again control and to guard against Luke. From his point he could see the map quite clearly. His hill was surrouded by rocks providing excellent obstacles for anyone who wanted to attack. There was a hill at the bottom bridge serving as a guard post and ambush point. Tyrond planned to strike if Luke's forces came that way. He sent the last 20 as scouts to find Luke's base through the bottom bridge. As the scouts scoured the bottom right island, Tyrond felt a little uneasy about it, something was wrong, it seemed too easy, he already had control of two bridges and scouts finding Luke's base at the bottom right island. Suddenly, 20 soldiers attacked Tyrond top bridge across the river. He predicted that these must be Luke's expeditionary forces. Tyrond ordered his troops to attack aggressively. Simultaneously, his 20 scout soldiers were attacked by 60 of Luke's oldier's at the bottom island. Seeing that it was pointless fighting he withdrew his soldiers back to the bottom bridge in the safety of the hill. Losing only 5 soldiers. At the top, a massive fight was going on but Tyrond knew he would definitely win given the odds but held back as he knew that it would not be wise to chase past the river, reinforcements might lurk there. The fight ended when Luke lost 10 soldiers and Tyrond 5 soldiers, an exchange. Tyrond reasoned that Luke's base must be at the bottom right since resistance was so heavy and decided to move the 25 of his soldiers past the bridge in an attempt to pincer Luke up. The 10 soldiers there did not pose a threat to his plan. The 45 soldiers he left there to defend against any army trying to attack his base. He moved his 25 soldiers in a regular pattern so as to prevent any soldiers getting past them. Tyrond was quite contented with this manouvre. All of a sudden, his 25 troops were under attack. He could not count the numbers since it was very rocky and boulders impeded vision. The shots fired seem to come from all around. Tyrond executed his evasive tatics and dispersed his group into groups of five spreading out and finding his ambushees. 5 of his soldiers were lost but he killed 5 of Luk's as well. Tyrond regrouped and continued the march. He scaled the coast with his 20 soldiers in the rocky fields. As he reached a hill he ordered his men to spread out to surround the hill keeping in the cover of the bushes. then at once he charged up the hill, surprising the forces there. Both parties lost 20. It was a fair enough trade considering he was on lower ground. With a sudden sense of dread he realized that his top was completely open. Calmly, as indicated in his plans he divided his 45 soldiers and sent 20 to guard top. Just as his 20 left the 45. The bottom bridge-hill was attacked by 30 of Luke's forces. 25 against 30 it was a fair fight considering he was a a hill. Luke's forces withdrew as they lost 25 soldiers in the battle, whilst Tyrond lost 20. Counting the numbers lost so far, he realized that he has more soldiers than Luke, if he continued to play defensively he might hold Luke off and wear him down then sweeping in to crush him. Tyrond sent 10 soldiers from his base to the bottom hill. He though of how he was going to take up defensive positions at points to flank Luke. He was going to win. All of a sudden, every instinct screamed at him to regroup at base. Tyrond lost control and he flipped through his plans everything has been exactly in planned only catch was his reached his final fallback...there was no more plans after this defensive flanking, he assumed he had won. Tyrond hesitated. In that instance Tyrond's base was under siege by an unknwon number of soldiers, the rocks hid their numbers carefully. Furthermore, his base was attatcked from all sides. the 10 mewasly soldier were holding off but definitely not for long. he swiftly move all his soldier to flank Luke's soldiers and pin them down using the hill. It was a bloody battle but Tyrond he was going to win, Luke had no way out and he had more forces than him. As he commenced his flanking Luke's forces stopped firing and disappeared into the rocks. Tyrond ordered all forces to be back at the hill. He lost 5 soldiers in that battle. Just as he thought all was well the 5 soldiers fromt he bottom hill got slautered as they made their way back to the hill. They had obviously met the unknown no. of soldiers. Tyrond analysed the situation, it wasn't good. According to some of his older tatics he should strike back as a couter-offensive, he then sent 30 of his soldiers down the hill to where his 5 soldiers died. Just as he predicted, Lukes forces were resting there in the cover of trees. The ambush was prung and Tyrond's 30 soldiers fought with 30 of Luke's soldiers. Luke escaped with 5 while Tyrond had 15 left. The odds were suddenly in his favour. Tyrond gave chase to the 5 pathetic soldiers but realized the dense jungle was too much for the 15 soldiers to handle and decided to pull back. He was already winning. Out of the blue, the 15 soldiers were under attack. the bottom hill was control by Luke and 10 soldiers. Tyrond lost 5 in that unfortunate encounter. It was 15 vs 10. Tyrond knew he had to tread lightly. Logically speaking, he could win easily by sending 10 soldiers to Luke's base and it was most likely defenceless. He set off the 10 soldiers to Luke's base and waited.
Suddenly, Luke stood up from his seat and after offing his monitor he went to Tyrond's side.
'What the hell, you trying to cheat? Or have you already given up?' Tyrond asked haugtily.
'Look at your base, you dolt' Luke replied casually, as if disappointed.
Prophetic enough, Tyrond's base was under siege by those 10 soldiers form all sides. the 5 meagre soldiers were barely enoguh to cope with al the fire. the rovks made it difficult to aim and judge their no.s though Tyrond knew it was 10. The 10 soldiers he sent already reached the bottom right island, perhaps if he found Luke's base before his was destroyed he might pull it off. Tyrond frantically, sieved through the island as his soldiers died at his base he started to get more and more nervous. When he was down to his last soldier he became overcome with anxiety that he did not realized he already checked the island twice. The last soldier fell.
All this while Luke had been behind him watching his feverish movements. As Tyrond watched his base burn to ashes he turned back and looked at Luke with imploring eyes.
'How...? How...were you one step ahead of me every time?' Tyrond muttered defeatedly.
' Well, first of all, I did not do anything fancy. My base was at top roght all the while hidden in the dense forest. I reasoned you wouldn't find me there if you were distracted...' Luke replied.
'That's why you placed 60 soldiers there at first, as a distraction, not a defense' Tyrond spoke with a sense of enlightenment, his plans never prepared him for that,' but what about the 35 soldiers showing up at my doorstep?'
' I realized that you were busy controlling the bridges so i allowed myself time to swim across the river. I reasoned that you would not try anything with your divided forces against my 60 soldiers. Thus explaining my sudden sppearance'
'So I could have...but if I...I should have went to...' Tyrond's word were left hanging in mid air as he watched Luke exit the room not looking back. It was over, he lost.
The end
After reading that long story I would like to ask you people this question:
What exactly is knowledge? Is it knowing things beforehand or knowing how to act when the time is right? Or is it total supreme intellectual capabilities or perhaps just knowing how to adapt to change?
It is hard to define knowledge, most would refer it to grades and such but I think not. Knowledge is definitely broader than that. Its just like anyone can be smart but not everyone can be wise. Intelligience does not mean you are knowledgeble neither does learning how to apply it. Instead when thoughts becomes reason and reason becomes action and action becomes opportunity and opportunity becomes achievment only then do you understand the meaning of knowledge.
'I am not wise and all-knowing as you think, Strider. I am just a ordinary old man in a weird looking robe who seem to give answers in abstract forms. Frankly, the only reason why people think I am wiser than them is because they do not give themself the chance'-Zachariah
I am limmingxiang pullyourpantsup singing off.
