March Madness is a thrilling demonstration of wholesome competition. But let’s think beyond basketball. Ours is a competitive culture. Much of our social life expresses it. Winning is everything!
Though a good thing in many ways, competition can be an enemy, especially when it leads to self-righteousness.
One of my favorite stories is about the two college freshmen in an Ivy League University. Each considered each the other his chief rival for valedictorian after the first semester’s grades were posted.
They did not meet each other, but they read their names each semester when their grades were posted one above the other, on the bulletin board, outside their professor’s doors. They carefully monitored their progress toward their goal.
Each semester, one of them would be on the top, the other barely below.
Though they recognized each other, they never met. Neither of them ever made a gesture of friendship. When the time came for graduation, sure enough, one of them made valedictorian and the other salutatorian. Each walked across the stage and received his certificate, and each disappeared to take up his chosen profession.
Forty years later, one of them was a portly and balding gentleman, dressed in the elaborate robes of the church and the purple hat that signified he was a Cardinal. He entered Grand Central Station and immediately spotted his collegiate rival. He was tall and ramrod straight, dressed in a snappy military uniform with four stars across his shoulders—a General.
The Cardinal, in his flowing robes, thought, “Here we are, former college mates and leaders of our respective professions, and we’ve never even met one another. The least I could do, as a man of the cloth, is to take the initiative and speak to my rival.” So he crossed the busy Grand Central reception room, faced his collegial arch rival and said, “Conductor, can you tell me when the next train leaves for Chicago?”
The four-star General responded, “I don’t know, Madam, but should a woman in your condition be traveling?”
Competition often leads to self-righteousness which leads us to establish worth and judgment on the basis of comparison. It does not take into account the obstacles others may have faced and overcome. It doesn’t take into account our indebtedness to others for all that we have and are. Thus it separates us from our brothers and sisters in the human family, and winning isn’t worth that.