Our Addiction to Competition

This is a speech that I gave at the Tyger Valley Public Speaking Festival. We were given a topic with ten minutes to prepare. Note that I have changed some things to make it more relevant to us. This is what I had to say:

Good morning everyone. My name is Matthew Field and I am going to do something quite foolish. I am going to tell you something very personal: something that I have not even told my closest friends. Oh well, here it goes.

I am Matthew Field, and I am an addict.

No, I’m not smoking cigarettes, I’m not drinking and I’m not hitting up that hash.

No, the thing I’m addicted to is much worse.

At least I know that I’m not alone. I know this because I go to a school like ours.

I, like many of you, am addicted to competition. We are always trying to be better. We are always trying to be on top. That is why we have Todd House, it is why we have bounds, its why we have the Top 10.

We have to constantly be doing things. I have to best my friend’s maths average, and you have to score more tries than anyone else. You have to be better and do more. You can’t leave with a starter pack.

Why is this?

We have based our self-esteem off of it. If I’m not getting 80s, if I’m scoring goals in hockey matches, if I’m not debating in competitions… then what am I? What am I here for?

Somehow I’ve based my entire self worth on this.

This doesn’t just apply to me. This applies to all of you. We see it all around us. Friends compare their averages. Houses compare their bounds times. Sportsmen compare their three-pointer stats to see who will win MVP.

They have to be better.

Why do you think it’s the best athletes who take steroids?

They have to be the best.

Why do the top students cheat in exams?

They have to be the best.

School is no longer about learning. It is about competition. If they are winning I am losing.

I envy my parents, when they talk about how fun their high-school years were. They were allowed to learn. They were allowed to have fun without worrying about the next test. They could have friends who were not also their rivals.

I can’t comprehend any of it. It’s an alien world.

We don’t live in the world of our parents. We live in a world where we are addicted to the high of being better than someone else; of beating someone else. Simply being recognized for achievement is not enough anymore. We have to be better than our rivals. We have to destroy them.

We cannot easily change this. We’re far too past that now.

All we can hope for now is some closure.

Where does this come from?

Its simple.

It’s our teachers saying we can’t study medicine if I don’t get 96%.

It’s us being told that if we’re not excelling, we’re letting my parents down.

If you’re not in top 10, you’ve wasted their money.

We have to do better than our parents; make more money than them and get better jobs than what they have.

We don’t know how we’re going to do this. We don’t know why we need to do this. But we have to.

This is the mindset that we have.

We have been pushed to be overly competitive, and its hurting us, all of us.

Thank you for letting me share with you today.

Matthew Field ©