The writings of Birju Patel

Monday, September 19, 2011

Competition: A curse

Why do we have to compete with others? Why do we strive so hard to be better than the rest? I think the main problem with our society is that we judge a person’s success by his or her academic achievements or wealth. Success has a broad meaning but most of us are so blinded by the popular notion that we can’t see beyond it. According to me success is an achievement of a goal set by a person, it’s doesn’t have to be monetary or academic in nature.

Today a kid has to handle so much pressure from his or her parents and the peers to excel in schools. The kid is an equivalent of a donkey that has to carry the load of other without the right of expressing his or her real feelings. Nature has created us in such a manner that we need to do a lot of physical activities during the growing years. Sports and exercises during the childhood determines our skeletal and muscular structure  As soon as a kid is in the 9th grade he or she forced to think about college and career, and most of the times parent’s are the ones who decide the career path of child. Recently I watched a piece on the television about the student in IIT; I was astonished to know that 7 students committed suicide this year alone because they got low grades. This is a blunder created by the educational system and the parents who have injected the fear of failure in today’s children. I say it is alright to be an average student or even fail in subjects which are of no interest to a child. Why do you expect your child to become a doctor or an engineer? Why can’t he or she become an artist, an environmentalist, a politician, a social activist etc? A child or the parents should not be ashamed if that child is an average or below average student. Once a very good friend of mine, Pragnya Seth told me that most people in this world are literate not educated and she is absolutely correct. 

When the child reaches adulthood he or she has the pressure to excel in a career. As soon as college is over the youth gets ready to be the part of the famous rat race.  A really exciting life which is spent behind a desk and living a very unhealthy lifestyle. The benefit of such life is that one will have a lot of money when they grow old but would they have the health to enjoy that wealth? Parents didn’t let them grow the way they were meant to and the unhealthy eating habits along with lack of exercise takes a toll on the human body. My question is when does one get to live their life? The childhood is lost due to the burden of school and the adulthood is lost running after money. All the precious moments are lost just to die a painful death because your brain is stressed and your artilleries are choked.  We are all born to explore this world and find ways to make the world a better place .  I  don’t have to beat others to show that I am better than them; I have already beaten gazillion sperms to make it to this world. I have done my part of being competitive even before I was born and that’s why it’s my time to be alive.