I Can't Even...
By Sara “Zarine”
Jessop
… The Spirit of
Competition
So yesterday
there was a big sportsball competition. Some of you may have noticed. It was
pretty well talked about, so unless you live under a rock you were at least
aware of it's happening. We have a few of what we'll call spectator sports here
in the Realms. Most of us are simply bystanders enjoying it for it's
entertainment value. And then of course there are tournaments which have a pretty
equal mix of competitors and observers. You can break it down further into
different types of tournaments; single, teams, war maneuvers, games of chance,
games of skill... But they all have one simple thing in common: Competition.
I tend to
surround myself with like minded folks who love some good healthy competition.
But, dear reader, there are those out there that just simply do not appreciate
a good rivalry. Now, most people would just carry on with their life enjoying
the things that they enjoy, and letting others do the same. But some people are
just plain jerks and don't like others to have any fun. Or at least that's the
first thought that I have about them when they condescendingly feel the need to
tell you how lame the thing you fancy is. But the more I sit and ponder these
fustilarians, the more I realize that there may be something deeper to their
distaste of competition.
The denizens
of our lands who harbor a strong dislike of the competitive spirit do not
simply wish to remove themselves from such entertainment but others as well. It
is as if they wish all competition to disappear from our lands. But why is
this?
To compete
you must acquire some level of skill. Lest you simply lose all of the time and
be seen as an unworthy opponent. Now there appear to be many a pleb who simply
does not care if they are awful at whatever it is they are doing. You know,
those people that we say have “a lot of heart”. Yeah, that's just a nice way of
saying “he's awful, but he tries really hard.” But most people do not like to
lose and spend their time getting better so that they stop being losers and
start being winners. But then there are the people who just can't get any
better at a given thing. Now, I am not talking about the people who simply get
no enjoyment out of said thing and therefore have no desire to better
themselves in that direction. I am speaking of the people who have tried and
failed and now harbor some kind of resentment towards others who have succeeded
where they could not. You see, dear reader, some people wish to remove all
competition because they are not any good at it. While they may not be
able to win if they eradicate the competition at least they can't lose, and I
suppose to some people that *is* winning.
What people
need to get through their thick ninnyheads is that by eliminating competition
we all lose. Competition is healthy. It
pushes us to be better. To compete with others you need to better yourself
until you are better than them. And then they need to do the same. And so on
and so forth until one of you dies, with no regrets because you bettered
yourself so much that you were the most betterer of bestests (or something).
Anyways, the point is it makes you stronger, tougher, smarter, faster, or
whatever you need to be to beat the other guy (or gal).
We all
compete every day, whether we even realize it or not. We compete with ourselves to be better than
yesterday. We compete with our friends for fun and profit. We compete at our
jobs for better pay and positions. We compete with the dog for the chips we
drop on the floor. We all enjoy different types of competition, and that's
okay! I enjoy war maneuvers and fashion challenges but dislike one on one
tournaments and bardics. You may see me out there playing Bloodbowl at Queen of
Hearts, but you won't see me jugging in a ranked team any time soon. I don't
want other people to stop doing or supporting those things. I just choose to
focus my time into the things I enjoy and you should to. Be it the thing you
are already skilled at, or that you want to get more skilled at, or that you
just enjoy weather you are skilled or not. Competition makes us all better.
So go out
there and get good at something.
See you next
Tuesday.
Zarine is the proprietor and Madam at
Alchimia Lupanar, a magic marshal approved practitioner of medicine, an award
winning author, and has 36 years of experience in giving her unsolicited
opinion.