Vicki Ryder: The game of musical chairs

Just about anyone who’s grown up in the United States will remember playing musical chairs in school. Our teachers would place chairs in a circle — one for each child in the room — and then take one chair away. When the music started, we’d all walk around behind the circle of chairs and, when the music stopped, we’d make a mad dash for a remaining chair. The one left without a seat was sidelined while the others cheered and resumed the game.

One by one, as chairs were removed, the number of losers grew while those who had elbowed their way to a chair remained to play another round. Eventually, one person, usually a boy, and usually the largest or the fastest or the fiercest, was declared the winner for having succeeded in pushing everyone else out of the way.