It’s been said that I am a bit on the competitive side… which is something I can’t say I would dispute. I have a hard time not wanting to win everything I do, even when it’s not something with a running score. Sure, if I’m playing a game that crowns an actual winner, I really want to win. It doesn’t matter if it’s poker, spades, basketball, fantasy football/baseball or something on Playstation… if there is a winner to be declared, I want to be that man. You might think that’s not so strange, and certainly not unusual. And I suppose it’s not. What does seem a bit much though is that fact that so many of us want to come out ahead in areas that aren’t supposed to be a competition.
It seems to me that the same competitive mentality is at least part of what leads us to keep score of our deeds vs what we get in return. It might be only working just hard enough not to get fired, as made famous by Peter Gibbons (bonus points to you if you know who he is without having to look him up)… It could be not wanting to go out of our way to help someone if there doesn’t seem to be something of equal or greater value for us in return…
What I’m wondering is, who’s keeping the score? And what do we win if we come out ahead? If we get more than we give, is there some medal of honor that awaits us?
The awards and medals actually should go to those that give selflessly of themselves without asking anything in return… those that give without expectation of receiving something back. I’m not as much that man as I used to be, but I want to me more that way again… whether it be with my wife, my family, my friends or even complete strangers… just my personal thought of the day.
