COMPETITION

Competition, as seen by RW Joslyn


Staring in disbelief at our dining room table, I mentioned to Jan that just yesterday I had thoroughly dusted our condo and that I could not comprehend why there remained a thin layer of the unmerciful powder, again, invading the table’s surface at free will. Her reply was without hesitation and unfortunately factual. “Dust has always been and will always be,” she volunteered. And so it is, as with dust so is competition.

Competition is a word frequently used to illustrate a contest between rivals, multi parties acting independently to secure the business of a third party by offering the most favorable terms, or possibly a word to describe the ever occurring comparisons we must endure in our daily lives. Some comparative words and phrases are bout, clash, contention, encounter, fight, game, match-up, opposition, tug-of-war, and even dog-eat-dog.

Competition possibly started before mankind’s existence. The Bible has it that God and Satan fought for the angels, hence the fallen angels that went the way of the devil. And then came man, and the same battle raged for the soul of man. And along with that incessant battle, man began competing with one another in every manner of life. Mankind competed for land, for food and water, for materialistic wants, for lovers, for positions, and much more. Life has not changed in modern times. Today, some of the competitive measures have been ingenuously transformed, but the situation remains destructively similar.

So is competition good?

Have you heard the phrase, "Competition is healthy?" Much of the competition today causes strife, tension, anxieties, and stress, which may lead to mental or physical issues. Competitive failure has led many down the dismal path of acute depression. And competitive success has led some to affluence and materialistic blindness.

Athletic competition is big today. I believe that most people express more interest as to who their professional athletic teams draft over who is voted into a political office. Monetarily, literally billions of dollars are spent annually to support athletic competition worldwide. This amount is astronomically staggering. And because countries must compete militarily to safe guard their land and way of life from possible attack, the world spends more money in one day on their armies than would be needed to feed all the hungry inhabitants of our world for a year. This, in tandem with athletic competition money, all of which could be more appropriately used to eradicate sub-standard living conditions that millions of people suffer from daily, should be unanimously unacceptable. But this is not a perfect world by any stretch of our imagination.

The question remains, is competition healthy?

In some cases, you must give an affirmative answer. I personally think it’s possible. In the case of industry, we have what might be referred to as “perfect competition," whereas the ideal is to have conditions under which competition would achieve maximum effectiveness, such as superior products and low prices for those products. This is usually the exception rather than the rule. So we have what is referred to as “workable competition”. In this case, there is one firm that may have dominance over smaller firms and will influence market prices and conditions. Occasionally, the government must intervene into the market through antitrust action or direct regulation in order to improve the situation.

Continuing with the question, the answer must dwell within each individual. Open your mind and attempt to view things in a different perspective. Try to imagine a world where no one is competing with one another. Imagine a society where everyone is striving for the same goal of good health and happiness. No militaries, the non-existence of insolent millionaire ball players, no areas, be they cities, states, or countries exhibiting animosity towards one another because of their competing ball teams. Seriously, have you ever sat in a football or soccer stadium and witnessed the fights between opposing fans? Is that healthy? Have you ever seen a child unable to “cut it” like his or her peers, and then suffer through a comparative crisis? Ask that child if competition is healthy.

Yes, there can be healthy and fun competition if kept in the proper attitude. During my childhood, I recall some of those fun backyard croquet games where no one took into account winning or losing. Just play the game and have some fun and laughs. By maintaining this position, there were no losers, only winners.

I’m a runner. I enter competitive running events. I have long ago decided not to compete with anyone except against myself. This eliminates the inevitable human nature of envy, stress, or even malice.

Competition is at an all time fanatical pace in our current culture. We are so focused on doing things quicker, farther, higher, that we fail to reap the simple enjoyment of…just doing. The cooperate world continues to deprive us of our quality time, instilling in us their own greedy, fanatical tempo. Any chance of a tranquil existence and family cohesiveness has been placed on the back burner in the name of gains and profits. Pharmaceutical companies who major in stress relief pills continue to profit by our willingness to submit to competitions callous, malevolent side.

Should our primary goal be to win at all costs and not enjoy or even remember the journey? Or is it personally more priceless to have success within, enjoy the journey, and be happy at travels end.

It’s your choice...