I might be the most sensitive person I know, sometimes to a fault. When my friends throw out the dreaded question, “What did you get?” It makes me want to cry just thinking about it. Why does it matter to you? Why do you care so much about my test score?
Do you understand that hearing someone ask, “What did you get?” Makes me want to burst into tears on the spot? We have all had a time when we did poorly on a test and we have been asked, “What did you get?” You have two options in this situation—lie or tell someone your actual test score and get pitied.
I hate to break it to you, but I do not care that you got a 94% on your math test and that is not good enough for you. Some of us would give everything to get that test score regularly. I have been a horrible test taker my whole life, so this mean-spirited competition makes me really mad. I do not need your “don’t worry, I got a bad score too,” nonsense. A 92% is not a bad score. That makes me feel so much worse.
One thing I’ve learned this year is that grades do not indicate how smart you are, yet I still take them to heart so hard that sometimes it becomes painful. However, competition isn’t just about grades. When you’re in high school it’s literally everything. Who is the best on the football team? Who got the lead in the school play?
You are literally on the same football team. You are in the same play. Why can’t we just support each other? Yes, that may be hypocritical of me to say because when you are a teenager, being competitive and judgmental is programmed into your brain, but so is being self-conscious.
I get that comparing yourself to me might boost your ego for a moment in time, but is that temporary moment worth someone lying to you?
Competition is built into our society and human nature in general. It’s all based on feeling better about yourself, usually with the intention of sucking that confidence out of someone else. In certain cases, competition can be healthy, like in sports. That is built off of competition.
However, the way people even take sports to such huge extremes is scary. We don’t need to cuss the other team out or physically hurt them just because our team lost. Why can’t we just be happy that the other team showed up and gave us an entertaining game to watch, for making our team realize they may need to rethink their strategy.
Just think for a second and consider how you would feel if you failed your test and then got compared to. Not everything is a competition, so stop acting like it is. Be compassionate, think about someone else besides yourself, and be there for your friend.