Competition And Happiness Analysis

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Pages: 5

In “Competition and Happiness” by Theodore Isaac Rubin, the subject matter is competition and how beneficial or detrimental it can be to a person. Rubin firmly believes that competition is a negative ideal. He starts with downgrading competition by claiming it is a residual of a primitive past that is perpetuated by a parent’s desire to one up other families. He goes on to talk about his medical school experiences. He remarks that when he went to a Switzerland medical school he noticed it was a far less competitive environment than medical schools in America. His American colleagues weren’t comfortable with this and formed competitive cliques that really only served to stress people out in the end. Rubin believes that xcompetition leads to jealousy, paranoia, and envy as well as inhibits an individual’s personal growth and realization of self. I do agree with Rubin on this matter as most of my experience with competition has been negative. When people are constantly feeling pressured to be better than the person to their left and …show more content…
This is discussed in the article “The Cost Of High Stakes On Little League Games,” by C. W. Nevius. Parents of Little Leaguers are known to get very riled up about their children’s games and sometimes they can get violent. Nevius brings up many instances where a parent’s competitive tendencies lead to fighting and even death. For example, a high school assistant coach in California broke the jaw of a baseball umpire over a third base dispute. The worst of these instances took place in Massachusetts, where a parent beat a hockey coach to death because he thought the coach was allowing rough play. Death only leads to sadness and regret and pain. If competition sometimes leads to violence and death how could anyone argue that it brings out the best in people. At the very least civilians should try and realize that there should be a limit to