Daily Prompt: Competition posted by ranu
I am not a person who is very competitive.I went through school,college and university without competing.I was mostly happy with my performance.Competition I feel causes a lot of stress. Nothing brings out my competitive streak. Having said that there was once I felt it brought out my competitive streak full throttle.
My daughter Fatima was visiting me for a few days.One day she came and asked me,was I going to be busy that day.I told her I didn’t think and was curious to know what was on her mind. She wanted to play a game of scrabble and she was wondering if I would join her.This daughter of mine hated to lose,she grew up winning everything,my husband was not particularly happy if she lost.Because she created a holy fuss which amounted to slamming the doors,stamping the floor and screaming. My other two daughters were told to let her win,they were not thrilled with the idea but they hated to see the repercussion,if she lost.
I had a perfect chance to teach her about winning and losing.Immediately I made it clear to her,win or lose she will have to control herself,she promised to abide by my rule. We proceeded to play the game,my dormant competitive spirit woke up.I sat straight and concentrated on the game.I looked at every possible nook and corner to see how I could make a word and get a lot of points.Luckily I also got the letters with high points.Fatima was keeping the score and also looking at all the possible angles where she could get the triple word score.We were at it for half of the day. I managed to use out all my letters she couldn’t. I let her add the score, I won by probably about ten points.I won both ways I won the game and also taught her a very important lesson,how to lose gracefully. Remember this I told her,”Failure is the pillar of success.”
Sabethville 
Dear Ranu,
Thank you for this. There is, as you point out, so much potential, in failure, to grow.
It’s funny that I have absolutely no involvement in competitive things. Having grown up without a father figure, I was never inculcated with a love for competitive sports (compared to most American males who do inherit this from their fathers).
So now, compared to other typical American males, I am quite anomalous in my almost total lack of interest in group sports, American football, baseball, etc. I simply have no interest, nor knowledge of, this area of American culture. And I am no worse off for it :-).
All good wishes,
robert
Your comment is really interesting,thank you,Robert.
Thank you,Robert.I enjoyed reading your comment.
How to lose gracefully is indeed important! Nowadays people forget that! Thank you for the post.
Thank you Terry,I am delighted to see you here.
All the best.
Ranu
Thank you Terry.