Olivier and Janvier had played football together from primary school and were looking forward to doing the same in high school. They were great friends and they did everything together. That is, until first year of high school when they competed to join the school team.

Olivier made it to join the football team, but Javier did not. Even though Olivier tried to keep the friendship, Janvier seemed to be pulling away. Soon these close friends fell out and their relationship could not be recovered.

Their relationship was broken by unhealthy competition. This is what causes fights among many young people. We desire to be better than everyone else and so when someone defeats us in anything we become angry and sad.

Sometimes our selfish desire for attention and recognition destroys the love we should have for one another. There’s nothing wrong with a little healthy competition but if we are too keen on wining we might just forget that losing is sometimes okay because we learn from our mistakes too. 

Comparing yourself to your friends every time will hurt both you and them. It hurts your relationship with them. Healthy competition calls for us not to be jealous but to learn from defeat. If someone is better than you in a subject instead of being jealous let them teach you how to be good in it too.

Be friends with your competitors in class so that you can teach each other. Being friends with people means you are willing to love them even though they are better than you in some things. The truth is that we are all good at different things.

We all have different talents. If you are having trouble because you feel competitive or jealous, remember the good things you can do for others too.

We are all different but in the end we all have potential to be the best we can.

Ends