Somebody asked him, “Did you win?” He said, “No, but I won against myself” (laughter), meaning that he beat his own record. How beautiful for an eight-year-old child to understand this! You find that in Ananda schools there is this same kind of cooperative effort to help each other – not to put each other down, which is so normal with children.
Swami Kriyananda in Light of Superconsciousness
We don't avoid competition all together at our school but we do try to guide students to be aware of their energy, of how they feel and how they act, when they do compete. Sometimes we'll change the rules of the game to make sure each player is being challenged appropriately. For example, we might make a team of athletes vs. "non-athletes" but the non-athletes score points for making contact with the ball. Or a skilled player has to make at least 3 passes before each attempt at scoring. (Just as a note: these are blanket suggestions, they're solutions that arose based on specific groups of children at a particular time.)
The quote above reminded me of another story that came to my attention recently about a race that was run back in December. A Spanish runner, Ivan Fernandez was trailing his opponent Abel Mutai from Kenya when Mutai slowed down as he neared the finish line. He was confused by the signage and stopped short thinking he had won the race when he was actually still a few meter short! When Ivan realized his competitor's mistake he started shouting at him to keep running and then, because Mutai didn't speak Spanish, Ivan pushed him to victory.
Journalists were shocked by this and ask why he would this. He could have easily run past him and won the race. His reply was incredible and very much in line with the point that Swami Kriyananda makes above about the kind of cooperative effort that can be cultivated. Ivan said "My dream is that someday we can have a kind of community life." When a journalist pressed him asking "But why did you let the Kenyan win?" Ivan responded "I didn't let him win, he was going to win." Again the journalist, seemingly perplexed by this response, repeated "But you could have won!" Ivan simply said "But what would be the merit of my victory? What would be the honor of that medal? What would my Mom think of that?"
This is indeed the kind of value that is cultivated at our school. It is a redefinition of what success really means, what it looks like and feels like, that not only includes others but sometimes even puts them first. While there is a seemingly natural drive to compete and to win in many individuals the important reflection is Ivan's question "What would be the merit of my victory?" We may come out on top but are we happy? Does it come at the cost of our friendships or our integrity? What really matters most?
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