The Importance of Competition People like to believe that competition is petty and immoral; that competition teaches us to be selfish and egotistical. I, however, disagree. Competition is an important aspect that we all face many times in our lives. Competition does teach us negative skills, but it also teaches us important traits such as innovation and perseverance, without it we would have complacency. With that in mind, we are often contradicting ourselves by saying that competition is not important. Vince Lombardi once said, “If winning isn’t everything, why do they keep score?” If winning is not everything, then why would there be competition to begin with? In order to have a competition, there would have to be both a winner and a loser. Competition does not only exists in sports, but in life; every day we face a new competitor. It is an engraved concept that we have grown accustomed to; from a young age we were taught to compete, that no competitor should stand in our way no matter the stakes, and that if we believe we shall succeed. Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines winning as, “Relating to or producing a win, successful at something” which brings up a key point—success. Success is something that we all strive for throughout our lives, which can only be achieved through winning. With winning, comes success on various scales. Lombardi was a great advocate for winning; he had spent a greater part of his life teaching this attribute. “He constantly lectured his three sons that they’d be successful only if they worked harder than everybody else” (Phillips, 2). History has taught us time and time again that winning is crucial in order to succeed. The great Julius Caesar once said “Veni, vidi, vici”; a Latin phrase for “I came, I saw, I conquered”. He said this in his speech during his campaign in Britain in 54 B.C. Caesar was referring to his victory of the battle of Zela. Caesar had to fight against Pharnaces and his army in order to cease the atrocities against Roman prisoners and civilians (“Julius Caser” n.d). Caesar stood his ground, fought, and defeated the oppressors of Rome. He came, he saw the tyranny towards the Romans, and he conquered his competition and gained success. If Caesar had lost that battle, oppression would have remained. It is important to understand that winning is what tells us who the victorious are and who the defeated are. Without it, human history would cease to exist. I recall a time when I was a young schoolboy, my teacher had created a weekly contest called “Student of the Week” where she would decide which student in the class stood out the most based upon how that student’s behavior was, their discipline, and their ability to help around the classroom. She created a chart with everyone’s names and for every “good act” that a student carried out, she would place a star next to that student’s name. Whoever had the most stars would be crowned Student of the Week. This was my firsthand experience with competition. Before my teacher created the weekly contest, our class was out of control; disaster and disobedience roamed the classroom, but after she created it, they were a thing of the past. The weekly competition became a teacher for us. Some may disregard this competition as selfishness, arguing that we were only obedient to benefit ourselves by trying to earn Student of the Week. Yes, it is true, sometimes competition is done out of selfishness, but competition is meant to teach you. When you are trying to achieve a goal and a rival is trying to achieve that same goal at a similar level as you, it forces you to excel beyond their level of accomplishment. Competition is a continuous driving force; without it, humans would not evolve. Education is a prime example of this because at its core, it is a competition - how students continuously strive to excel in the classroom so that they can be prepared for the final examination, where then they compete for the highest grade possible, or when a student is taking an entrance examination, they must surpass all the other candidates so that can be accepted into their institution. Competition knows no boundaries in education; it thrives around us. In 1934, Russian biologist, Georgii Frantsevich Gause had created The Competitive Exclusion Principle, stating that two species, whom share the same resources, live under the same conditions, and reside near to each other for an extended period of time cannot survive together. One species will always have a slight advantage over the other and the less efficient species will be forced out of their habitat (Hoagstorm, eoearth.org). Gause experimented to prove his principle using two aquatic protozoan Paramecium (single-celled freshwater animal). He placed both specimens in a nutrient substance providing only bacteria as food. After a period of time, only one of the specimens had survived. Lombardi once stated: “It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men. That’s why they are there—to compete”. Ecology proves that all organisms from every cell, +to every animal on earth, are inherently competitive. Though some may disagree, competition is a part of every person’s life. Everything that we have ever prepared, fought, or made sacrifices for or ever will, always has an opposing competitor; it is inevitable. It has allowed us to prosper as a species and to continuously strive for excellence. Moreover, it has taught us how to be innovative, perseverant, and motivated. History and Ecology through experiences, have proven that competition is an inherent attribute, therefore it is important to understand that you should never back down to another competitor, life will always have another one ready immediately after. To quote Lombardi, “A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive…it can be done”.

Works Cited

Hoagstrom, Carl. Competitive Exclusion Principle The Encyclopedia of Earth. N.p., 11 Sep 2011. Web. 28 Jan 2014. http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/151404/.

Lendering, Jona. Zela Livius.org. N.p., 06 Nov 2007. Web. 26 Jan 2014. http://www.livius.org/za-zn/zela/zela.html.

Lombardi, Vince, and Vince Lombardi Jr. What It Takes To Be Number One. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2012. Print.

Vince Lombardi. Luminary Group LLC. Web. 29 Jan 2014. http://www.vincelombardi.com/.m

Phillips, Donald T. Vince Lombardi on Coaching and Leadership RUN TO WIN. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2001. Print.
Julius Caesar 2014. The Biography Channel website. Jan 26 2014, 02:21 http://www.biography.com/people/julius-caesar-9192504.