Archie, he had a lot of wisdom. I met him at a time when I needed guidance, and I recognized him as a person who was passionate about knowledge of self. Most days he could be found reading or playing chess.
I used to hit him up to play, but he'd tell me, "You probably know how to play chess, but you don't play chess," and he was right.
Archie said there are people who know how to play the game, people who play the game, and then there are chess players. The first group just knows how to move the pieces on the board. The next group plays chess, but doesn't understand the strategy. And for chess players like Arch...the game is just inside of them.
I used to think, attack attack attack. Archie would let me win some of his pieces, but then the next thing I knew I'd be in checkmate.
So he started schooling me. Lesson one: look at chess as a metaphor for life. That was a paradigm shift for me. Up until then I believed in the so-called code of the streets. Basically I was willing to throw my life away for a friend.