I believe competition is a part of everyone’s life no matter what you do. When I was little, I accompanied Mom to help Aunt Frannie cook dinner for the members of the threshing ring. The men sitting around the table debated which wife served the best noon meal during the harvest season.
For siblings, rivalry begins in childhood. Brothers and sisters note who’s receiving more of their mother’s attention. Who eats the last piece of cake? What TV show will they watch?
As an only child at home and the only one in my class while I attended a one-room, country school for six years, I didn’t face competition until I rode the yellow bus to Durand for junior and senior high. The thirty-some seventh graders dwindled to twenty-four graduating seniors. Competition in the classroom culminated in who would be honored as salutatorian and valedictorian.
We also began the dating game. Would the boy I had my eye on ask me to the prom?
Entering the working world, I competed for jobs. Once I was hired, there was rivalry for the various positions in the office.
Young, adult men and women vie with one another for the person they’ll marry. “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” TV shows exploit these contests.
New mothers compare their babies’ accomplishments. Who’s crawling? Who’s walking? Who’s talking?
As a freelance journalist, I strive to be better today than I was yesterday. I compete with other writers to have my articles accepted by a newspaper or magazine editor. For my memoir and my blog, I’m trying to attract readers.
Some of my retired friends are on waiting lists for senior housing. In their free time, they join groups playing cards or bingo for prizes. I think the struggle never ends.
Do you feel like you’re in a competition?
I am in total agreement that competition continues on until we die. As we age, we lose so many of the things that we used to compete in like bowling, golf, whose cake is the best, whose baby walked the earliest, etc, and that is the reason why card playing becomes so important. The groups we play in like to talk about the fun to be had, but the real “nuts and bolts” are the money to be won – also just having your name announced as having won first, second or third. There is a pleasure to be had; a feeling that the old brain is doing all right, thank you. Nothing wrong with that as long as you don’t celebrate too much when you set someone!!
Competition keeps you on your toes!