Amaka and I were cousins and we first met at our family reunion party held in our villages some years ago. She is a pretty lady, tall, skinny and fair. While I am dark, with a slight beard, average height and shy. She grew fond of me because I always defended her. That yet, I guess what made her comfortable with me was the experience we had when we went to see that masquerade dance at the village square.
Everywhere was dusty and a crowd of people ran in fear of the approaching masquerade who was notorious for flogging people who stood still while he chased them. I held Amaka who had already buried her head in my chest as the notorious masquerade approached us, welding long fresh canes on both hands.
The masquerade stood directly opposite Amaka and I with the intention to flog us but I heard the young man that acted like an orderly to the masquerade asking him to advance that we were strangers. Over time, Amaka would always want to be around me more so that we were in the same age bracket. She was just a week older than I.
We were fresh graduates seeking employment. Having studied Business Administration and Management, Amaka had the belief that after the festive period when we returned to Lagos, she would easily find a job. For me, as a graduate of History and Diplomacy, I knew there aren't many job opportunities other than teaching. Upon reaching Lagos, I got a teaching job while Amaka kept waiting to get a huge role in a company that would pay her heavy.
She took her time to get the job of her choice which came after one year. By this time, I had worked in two different schools around the Lekki axis of Lagos..
A few years later, I got married and Amaka was well on the ground to help plan the wedding. I was just about thirty years old then. Amaka did not get married until after five years.
We pursued our life goals differently because we are different persons. For Amaka and I, life may be a competition but we did not allow ourselves to be pressured to run the race of another man.
As much as it is good to compete, the disadvantages of competition when.it turns sour could be devastating.
During my days as a teacher, I remember vividly how two male teachers had to throw punches at each other during the inter-house sports competition. This competition is organized for learners but the house masters who felt cheated had to go haywire. That is what competition can reduce us to.
Evils of Competition
False Image: When competition sets in, one party may create a wrong image of the other. A typical example was when 7up bottling company was robbed in broad daylight. The other soft drink manufacturers were not a match for 7up, so they came up with an unhealthy plan to remove 7up from the market entirely. The only way that could be done was through destroying the image of 7up which was perfectly carried out. The end result was that 7up bottling company winded up. All her customers sought satisfaction with her arch-rivals. This came as a result of competition to take over the market place.
Monopoly: When there is competition, what we have is one fellow who wants to outweigh the other, thereby creating a monopoly, an economic system where there is only one source of supply. Like in our country today, when Dangote Cement entered the market, it reduces price to #1,000 per bag of cement. This made users.of cement to concentrate on Dangote. When the product gained the attention of the consumers, he then steadily controlled the price till this day. Now, a bag of cement is about #11,000. This makes it look like competition is necessarily an act to make the weak, weaker and the strong, stronger.
Emotional Stress; Rather than think of how to better yourself and to improve on your quality, what occupies your mind is to seek strategies to beat your competitors. This makes competition all together a bad idea. People can easily go deep in evil mechanization because of competition. Whoever propounded this law of competition has done the world a huge harm. Though, human beings have the natural intent to be competitors but the end of all competition results in negativity. The story of Cain and Abel in the Bible can give you a clearer picture.
Cut-throat Behaviour: Individuals or groups can go the extra mile to win or win at all costs. This one thing that competition causes. It is the unhealthy competition in Nigeria today that has made our youths seek financial freedom through cybercrime and fraud. It is common now to hear stuff like ** Education is a scam** because there are other ways to make ends meet.
Competition could be a fair advantage if all of us are of the same mindset. But as much as our personality and mind differs, competition could lead to war just like the current happening between Israel and Iran. What is simply playing out is the competition of supremacy, nothing more.