Cops and robbers: (n) a children’s game in which a group of players imitate the behavior of police and of thieves, as in pursuing and capturing.

I quickly ran through my mind a list of friends from my youth, with whom I played cops and robbers on a regular basis.

There were many derivations to the game. But as I think back on it, all the guys who ended up being straight arrows chose to be cops. And all the dudes who ended up with a twist in their fate were robbers.

There was never any argument. Definitely, everyone had already decided whether they wanted to be a cop or a robber.

At the time, I didn’t consider that we were possibly making permanent life choices. But as it turns out, “cop buddies” tried very hard to be the equivalent peace-keeping individuals when they reached adulthood, while the “robber boys” took chances, failed, crunched cars and had an occasional scrap, which led to a scrape with the law.

Which group ended up happier?

As it turned out, the kids who chose “cops” played it safer, but life, being an aggressive and angry force from time to time, still tracked them down and plagued them with divorces, bankruptcies and odd diseases.

The “robbers,” who were prepared to be rebellious, actually, in many cases, took these attacks more in stride, and viewed them as challenges rather than curses.

It’s difficult to say.

I suppose you might wonder whether I chose to be a cop or a robber. Whenever the game was played, to satisfy both parties, I volunteered to go on the donut run.

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