My dad jokingly said at dinner one night that I always had to remember that, "Second place is the first loser." At the time, I just thought it was really funny because technically it was true. Everyone that finishes after the winner has lost the race, whatever the race may be.
However last week in one of my classes, American Studies, we started talking about America and its need to be the best at everything and the idea popped into my head again.
Second place is the first loser. I started thinking about how often the idea of "winning" or being "the best" at something came up in our lives. At nearly everything people try to be better than their competitors. Whether its at work, at school, or even when your with friends, everyone wants to be the best. We constantly try to one-up each other or even go as far as to downplay someone else's achievements to make ourselves feel better. No one wants to be mediocre.
Although this constant competition in our lives can get ugly, as jealousy and bad-sportsmanship often come with it, I'm not sure if it is necessarily a bad thing. Where would our society be if everyone just strived to be mediocre? If people didn't have a competitive drive, we wouldn't have nearly as many advancements and creations that we do today. Of course one could say that without competition people could learn to self motivate-do the best they can because they want to. I don't think this would work very well because many people simply can't self motivate. Overall, I think the need to be number one is a good trait in people.
Is competition among peers a good or bad thing? Where would our society be without the constant fight to be the best?
However last week in one of my classes, American Studies, we started talking about America and its need to be the best at everything and the idea popped into my head again. Second place is the first loser. I started thinking about how often the idea of "winning" or being "the best" at something came up in our lives. At nearly everything people try to be better than their competitors. Whether its at work, at school, or even when your with friends, everyone wants to be the best. We constantly try to one-up each other or even go as far as to downplay someone else's achievements to make ourselves feel better. No one wants to be mediocre.
I think that is a really funny phrase, and so very applicable especially here in the North Shore. I honestly can't remember a time when I wasn't trying to get a higher GPA or a better score on something, but I do think there is something to be said about not always wanting to win. I think that a lot of advancements in society are made when a group of people come together in attempt to achieve something. And from past experiences in groups, it's really hard to work together when one member always wants to win for him or herself.
ReplyDeleteSo back to your questions, I don't think we as a society would go anywhere without a little competition, but everything is better in moderation.
I believe competition is necessary. It keeps society going forward. If we didn't have competition it is likely society would be nowhere close to where we are today.
ReplyDeleteAs Sheridan said, it is true we may have a little too much competition here on the North Shore. But I believe the reason we have so much competition on North Shore is because we possess an extreme amount of self-motivation--a quality that pushes us to keep going forward and never settle.
I think they are many rewards to the outcomes of competition. Winning gives us satisfaction for our hard work. Losing motivates us to work harder and adjust our thinking. Which brings up an entirely new concept: problem solving--the key quality of progression. Competition sparks new ways to approach the challenges in life.
Alexi, I think this is a fascinating issue to explore, and I'm glad that a dinner table convo. sparked an American Studies post or the other way around. In order to develop this topic further, though, it'd be nice if you could anchor you idea to a text, say, a psychology study on competition? an education study? the recent book Tiger Mother by Amy Chua? This would also help you avoid generalizations like "everything" and "everyone" that keep you from taking this idea even farther.
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