Of Rats and Races

I don't like competition -- never did . Well, the latter part of the statement is probably not completely accurate, may be I did like competing against scores of other similarly placed school kids in recitation, or the race where you have to run to the other end about 100 m away, eat a banana, and then run and come back, or even the normal 'running race' where I was inevitably second if it was a race between two people.

So does not liking competition indirectly suggest a lack of ambition ? ambition is defined as having a strong desire to achieve something, and I do have that - I do want to have a full life, utilize my abilities, and have no regrets when I move on. Trying to one up someone is something I really don't understand -- it is more about being better than the person next to you than doing your best and being the best if you are the best.

For a large majority, this starts from the time you are a kid - lots of mommies tell their kids, pinku!! look at rinku's scores in Maths, and look at yours!! Dinku was first in the athletic meet, I didn't make you participate for you to come third! This might be one extreme case, but google parental violence, and you come across umpteen cases of parents carrying it too far, but there have been instances of coaches being mauled to death by parents! All in the name of competition ?? Not really - one upmanship is more apposite here I guess. Strains of such memories probably get carried over to adulthood, and you again have instances of doping, doping programs, or plain vanilla aggression :).

One can also think about the current US Presidential elections (the primaries/ caucuses) or any elections that matter - the amount of mudslinging that goes on- both inadvertant and intentional is stupendous!

Well, it would have been utopia if everyone just went by their business, did the best they could do, and honestly rejoiced in others' success :) :) .
Yeah, life is probably all about making decisions, and making sure they are the right ones ;-) -- the most complicated decision I had to make today was to decide between cauliflower and cabbage curry :) :) -- no , my life is definitely more complicated and worthwhile than that :) :).

The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.