Competition is essential to personal development for its instruction. From beauty pageants to pee wee t-ball, winners learn how to win again and losers learn how to win the next time. Every endeavor yields a winner and a loser. A win is not eternal and a loss is never permanent because any game is situational and the rules are circumstantial.
What might seem competitive could actually be collaborative. When a beautiful woman enters into a room, the other beautiful woman is not made ugly. Instead, all women are considered more attractive than each would otherwise be on their own.
There is no eliminating competition. It will emerge elsewhere. When children can't declare a win or a loss in recreational sports, reality television pits lives of adults against each other for survival. We hunger for competition because we want winners and we want losers. We want road maps that point out the paths to success and the pitfalls to failure.
To eliminate competition is to extinguish intelligence, which emerges as the final score. Playing makes sense of game. The game is nothing but a study in outcomes when there is a level playing field. The thrill lies in the clock ticking down prompting the final jump shot or Hail Mary pass.
To be happy, we have to play the game to win and learn to lump the losses. There is no opting out whether you suit up or not. Participating is the game of life itself.
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