I am not a competitive person, never be.
But even at age of 28 now, my parents and also society seem to teach me that Life is all about “winning, succeeding”, and most especially to “strive for the BEST”, which usually means to try to reach to the TOP, be the number ONE, be the BEST, etc etc.
But I guess I always admired and taken into heart deeply what an ex-pastor said:
“if everybody wants to become number one, then who will become number two, number three, etc??”
I think this is truly the Reality, that he speaks of. and that’s why I admired him for being very realistic.
Sadly, I don’t think everybody can win and succeed in this life. yes that is harsh reality, but that IS a Reality, nevertheless.
What frustrates me the most is when these so-called ‘competitive’ people and society kept pressuring such unrealistic mindset of succeeding, becoming number one, the TOP player, the best etc, often at a very expensive costs!!
Example: look at how many youths are killing themselves in Japan, Korea and India now, because they’re EXPECTED to be ‘competitive’ (“there’s NO other way!”), be the BEST, be number ONE (when he/she is actually a peaceful, harmonious person, NOT a competitive person),…hence closing all his/her TRUE potentials, and make him/her depressed, can’t see a light out, and just committing suicides!!
Is this how human’s society should become?..
4 comments
Competition is bred into us. it is very dangerous. You should check out Jacques Fresco and what he says about competition.
I think that sucess is not based on being better than everyone else, but being the best that you can be. Personally, I feel sucessful not when I make tons of money (although that definitely helps) or win loads of awards, but when I reach and help someone out, when I pay the bills for a friend that doesn’t have the cash, or when I make a pathetic looking kid smile as we stand in line at the grocery store.
While striving to beat everyone else can easily make you feel depressed and like a failure, striving to be the best that you can personally be promotes ambition and happiness.
So yeah, I think our competitive culture is definitely screwed up. We should be in a contest…only we should be competiting against ourselves rather than someone else.
@anne4me: thank you for ur message..you are right.
You seem to be a good person too,
the world truly needs more Lights in the darkness like you.
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”
~ Romans 12:21
One of my very, very favorite verses, Niki! Thanks for your reply 🙂 I can tell that you’re a really amazing person. Maybe we can each work to change our own little corner of the world.