And trying to explain people, find the metaphor for them, their infinite variety and lifestyles, successes and failures, and it imperfectly comes to me...
People are like poker hands. If life is most like a game of poker, then people must be the hands. The cards, those qualities or attributes we've drawn or cultivated...
A face card? Queen, King, Ace? With this you can bluff your way through almost anything...Everyone likes a pretty face. Even if the rest of your hand is shit, a 2 of Spades for intelligence, 3 of hearts for integrity, hold those close to your chest, bluff, bluff, bluff, and the poorer poker players, they'll only see the face card and guess you're a winner...
Maybe you got a low face card...a 6 or a 7. Shit. Nobody looks at you, thinks your a player, but you plod through life winning, victory after victory, success after success, because that isn't the card they should be looking at, you've got other cards, close to your chest, or maybe laid out where everyone can see them, a full house, straight, a flush even, and with these cards you're a winner...you're solid.
We are all a bit like this, the card we show, we value, whether it be integrity or looks, intelligence, wit, culture, education, whatever, this is how we are judged, and by those who value that card accordingly. Those with a face card, they don't give a damn about your integrity, culture, personality, intelligence card. But in the end, it's not the card you're showing, it's the hand that you're holding, and how that card fits in, and this decides the game.
Still, a lot of people go far by bluffing...