We are all in competition with each other every day though we may love to deny the same and not realize it in our day-to-day life. Some examples would be, you want to swim better, run better, dance better, earn more, get more likes of Facebook, and have more followers on Twitter etc. It is painful to believe and accept the truth that we are competitive, which is why we are constantly re-assuring each other the opposite – just do your best, and the rest will follow, don’t worry be happy, take a break etc.
Luckily, we do not live in a world where everyone has to kill each other to prosper or reach the highest rung of the ladder by stepping and pulling others down for our own benefits – there are enough opportunities at our command for all of us to get by. However, competition still exists and will continue to exist until and unless we do away with jealousy, and hatred for each other. People dress up to win partners, go for interviews to win jobs, cheat, lie, and bribe to be in front rung of the ladder. Everything on demand is on a competitive scale and the best is only available to those who are willing to truly fight for it. We judge ourselves by our thoughts: I am a good person, I am ambitious, I am better than others may confront us, it’s not how the world sees us but how we see other people.
Abilities are not prized by their virtue as abilities are rarer and impact more people. We like to think that society rewards those who do the best work, for example: write an unpublished book you are nobody to the world but write a Harry Potter and the world comes running to you. Save a life and you are a small time hero soon to be forgotten but find a cure for cancer, AIDS, etc., and you become a legend. You may hate all this and it may make you sick, but reality doesn’t care. What you have, the ability to do, and the volume of people you can influence with your views, ideas, and your work constantly judge you. If you don’t accept this then the judgment of the world will seem very unfair to you indeed.
The problem isn’t that life is unfair; it’s your broken idea of fairness. People like to invent moral authority, we have an innate sense of right and wrong and we expect the world and people to comply; but reality is always different. We love to hate our bosses, parents, politicians, friends, etc., because their judgment or views are unfair and stupid and they don’t agree with us; most of us are trying to do our best under different circumstances of our own.
Can you imagine how insane, boring and monotonous our life would be if it actually was fair and just to everyone?! Companies would fail if everyone who worked for them was evil, relationships would end when both partners died together, darkness would cast over bad people and sunshine would fall on good people.
Competition is an example of separation. When you have thoughts of competition, it is coming from lack of attitude as you are saying there is a limited supply. You are saying that there is not enough for everybody. Therefore, we have to compete and fight to get things. When you compete you never win even if you think you have won. We are all one, so when we compete, we compete against each other. We have to get competition out of our minds and become a creative mind instead. We should focus on our dreams, our visions and take all competition out of our minds if we have to survive and be happy.
Most of us get so hung up on the world should work for us as we want it; with such attitude we cannot see how it does. However, facing the reality of life might just be the key to unlocking our understanding of the world, its people, its views and ideas and with it all our potential to be a better human being and make a better, cleaner and happier world.
About the Author
Bhavani Sundaram is a freelance writer from Dharampur, Himachal Pradesh, India.