Sports: Competing Disinterests

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. When I was a kid I played many sports.  I was pretty much obsessed with playing sports, and all aspects of it. I wanted to play baseball all day long in the summer if I could. I often did too. Nothing else seemed to matter, even though other things surely did (like lunch and dinner).

So with that as part of my life, I was instantly competitive.  Sometimes more than my friends, but from what I remember they were the same way.  Were they born that way? Were they taught that?  Was it learned from just playing baseball together? What makes one person competitive and the other not?  Is it genetics?

Then I wonder how lasting being competitive is into the adult years.  Does it mold you into thinking you can do things?  That you should win? That you should always try your best?  Dang it, I just used the word SHOULD.  Shoot me! (I have a better shot)

In today's society where mediocrity is highly encouraged and rewarded, itis hard to wonder who is competitive anymore?  There are the doers and the do nothings...but both are rewarded equally.  Sometimes if you work harder you'll get ahead.  Sometimes its just being in the right place at the right time.  Sometimes it is just who you know.  In those situations, does competing really matter?

I would like to think being competitive is a good thing. However the results are the same.  You have kids who don't need to be competitive, and they get a medal for just participating.  You have them growing up to be recipients of entitlements in all walks of life.  I don't want entitlements..don't expect them. The thought makes me cringe.  Yet I know if I am competitive like I was as a kid, it may not matter.  Yet I'm wired this way and can't stop, despite the apathetic outcome.  Oh the madness.