One of the main problems with living within a construct that is quite competitive, and of which many a person measures themselves not only by their achievements but also by how they compare vis-à-vis their contemporaries is that we thus conduct our lives, far too often, even when we are away from work, in a competitive frame of mind, in which, our abiding goal then is to get what is ours above all else. Indeed, when what we so obtain, appears to be greater than those that we are competing against, we feel that we have thus run our race, particularly well. So too, there is many a person that wants to be praised not so much for their generosity, or what they contribute to society, but rather they want to be recognized via their accomplishments and the accouterments of that status, as representing, therefore, a successful person, which provides them thereby with a positive self-image and a reinforcement, thereof, that the decisions that they have made, have been correct.
While people are going to find motivation in all sorts of ways and be driven to succeed by often their own desire, or perhaps in conjunction with societal pressures that they feel have encouraged them to be successful, that isn’t necessarily the healthiest way for a member of society to conduct themselves – for those that thereby insist or that believe that the world truly is a zero-sum game, then quite obviously there will be that constant pressure upon them to get what they can get because if they miss out, somebody else will surely get what could have been theirs.
A far healthier society is one that sensibly reduces the competitive spirit and replaces such with a collaborative spirit. That is to say, we would be better off if we better understood, that we are all in this together, from rich to poor, from one color to another, and from one faith to another, for we all have been created equally and it is our duty therefore, to visualize those that populate this world more as our brothers and sisters, as opposed to seeing them constantly as a force that needs to be counteracted against, competed against, or worried about.
The best of humanity is not represented best by those who have focused almost exclusively upon their self, or just those who care exclusively about their own family, but rather the best of humanity is represented best by those who have contributed something positive to society, by contributing their time, their experience, and their sweat labor to doing something that will help make society a better place for their valued participation in it. In other words, it is what we do to help make society better, that will in the skeins of time, be a more prudent use of our particular skill set. Further to the point, a lot of what we can do to contribute to others hasn’t a lot to do with how educated we are, or how clever we might be, but has a lot more to do with our desire to lend a helping hand in the best way possible to those that could use our aid, as given by our heart to theirs.