Competition

Our colony used to conduct “Ganesh Utsava” meaning a festive season devoted to Lord Ganesha in Hindu religion. School used to be closed for 2 days at the beginning and at the end of the season. It used to long for 10 fun filled days and our society always held “competitions” for kids. There were several- painting, dancing, singing, even a memory contest. I was small and used to enjoy taking part in those. At that time, I understood only one thing, take part, finish the competition and try to get a nice prize (used to be something like a notebook or so). That was the only meaning of the word “competition” to me back then. As I started growing up, I saw the use of this word in a broader sense.
I remember mom used to be after me to complete my homework after I came back from school (which I hated to the core to complete); the only reason was I should sustain in the competition. What did that mean? We hear all the time that world is getting more and more competitive each day. What is this competition all about? Is it about winning or money making or fame gaining or what? Well, it can be for all these reasons and even more. With growing population, it’s hard to make your mark unless you are really superior to others. This applies to a kid in Montessori and equally applies to big banners. No one is excused from this “competition”.
Some have monopoly. Meaning, they are only of a kind. Then someone else comes and does the same thing. Then they become two of a kind and it gives birth to the competition. Everyone is after being better than the other. We see home makers or housewives in many families. We might think they are not subject to competition; but wait. It’s not true. They are! They compete with their friends for better furniture, better style of clothes, better show off and so on. Competition is something we learn from our childhood. “My 3 yr old kid stood first in painting competition” says a mom. She is proud of him because he made his mark in the field of painting at the age of 3 (he understands nothing at that time. It is only his mom bragging about the kid). What I mean to tell is, at the age of 3, he just knows he is being praised and the reason being that of his winning. Later on, he understands that he should put efforts to prove himself only then he will exist in this competitive world.
Competition, however if taken in a negative sense, gets worse. People tend to leave the path they were competing for and go off the hook to prove them. That’s no more a competition then. That takes the shape of an ego. A true survivor of any competition is the one who plays within the limits and rules and still makes growth. I was in a meeting with my boss the other day and he was mentioning about how kids these days are subject to high rated competitive world everywhere and are missing on their playful childhood. He was absolutely true. I hear all the time about how schools are burdening students to study more, parents do the same thing at home, in addition, they compulsorily send them to play some game so that they’ll make growth and so on. Is that really necessary? This point is debatable. They miss out on their childhood but they at least gain confidence to be a part of the race when they grow up. They at least gain qualities that are required in future to hang in there.
This competition is a subject of debate. There is no doubt that it strains us and makes life very hard on us, but along with that does not that make us smarter people and motivates us to do better?