Deal or Never

For several years there was a game show on tv called Deal or No Deal. It went something like this, a number chosen, a human interest story told, and an amount of money offered to the contestant. Then, at the height of the build up, the host would look the contestant in the eye and say, in the most compelling, deliberate, and measured way, Deal (dramatic pause) or No Deal?!? Thus throwing the decision at the feet of the contestant willing her to make the only wise choice. It was now up to the contestant to decipher just what the wise choice actually was. 

The music, the staging, and the lights made this choice feel like everything in the contestant's life had lead up to this moment and that it would define her for all time. This decision could only end in jubilee or in absolute ruin. So it is basically life and death. Oh the drama of it all! People are crying, screaming, and holding each other all while trying to project their choice onto the contestant. Each one wishing he had been offered a huge amount of money but grateful he was not the ones faced with this life altering fork-in-the-road dilemma. 


My brother Nathan can invoke those same emotions and create that same sense of urgency when he makes a sales pitch about eating out. He stands up as though taking the stage, finds a coin, balances it on his thumb in flipping position, and says emphatically, "Deal (dramatic pause) or NEVER?!?" The tension and seriousness is palatable and suddenly I'm standing on that stage with the lights, cameras, and eyes all on me burning through my resolve to be anything close to rational. I laugh still my stomach hurts and exclaim, "Deal!!!"