| The Creative Expressions of... Bill Vivrett |
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| Updated 01.27.06 |
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COMPETITION Page 2 of 2 I grew up in a Midwestern town during the same time period. Life was good for a small boy growing up on those sunny morning sidewalks of other days- and there was such a different attitude towards competition. If the concept existed at all, it had a totally different meaning. We certainly didn�t compete for money, and if we were poor, we didn�t realize it because we were in the same circumstances as everyone else. In the classroom and outside, boys and girls alike approached every assignment- ten workbook pages, a spelling bee, multiplication flash cards, scrap metal drives, consecutive free throws, each was regarded as a personal challenge designed by the teacher, music director, or coach to bring out the best that was in each of us. And it worked. We felt no need to label winners and losers, no need to boost self-esteem with trophies, medals and ribbons for every person, no need to hire someone to bust knee caps, no need for mean-spirited trashing the opposition and no need for glowing Monday morning public relations press releases which put a positive spin on every momentary disaster that kids have experienced through the ages. We were taught to become responsible and caring adults. How did they do that? Perhaps it was because of (and not in spite of) the lack of adult interventions, organizations, leagues, uniforms, and Texas cheerleader moms. If we were short-changed by not having parents who organized us and who tried to relive their own youth vicariously through their children, we were as naively unaware of that dubious benefit as we were our lack of affluence. We organized ourselves and happily played our competitive games in school, after school and walking on the way to school. In summers, after chores, we played from sun up until dark and kick-the-can after dinner. Yes, we knew all about competition. We taught ourselves-and each other. Maybe we even invented the �each-one, teach-one� approach to learning. We certainly felt we had invented to �learn-by-doing� theory whether it was standing up on the bicycle seat or racing a beleagured engine across a railway trestle or bragging rights to �who went swimming first each season.� Competition used to have a wholesome innocence to it. When the parents, teacher, preacher, coach didn�t come up with some competitive game, we would invent an endless supply of our own. Of course, we always wanted to do our best, whether it was a tin-can drive for the war effort, street football, or playing H-O-R-S-E with a basketball at twilight. Our goal was always the same and each one of us had that same goal- to do the very best we could. Now, it�s called personal best. And if there were no lengthy awards ceremonies for individuals on the losing ream, there also was no Mad Max viciousness, no winning-is-everything mentality and no media evisceration if on had an instrumental role in losing the big game. Yes, individually we went on to our championship season, our very private tests of character, and our ten minutes in the sun that Andy Warhol said every person needs, byt we made that transition from childhood�s competitions (games) to life�s competitions with a healthy mental attitude: PERSONAL BEST. As children, that is all we required of each other. That is all we expected of ourselves then. That is all we should demand of ourselves NOW. PERSONAL BEST- with style and grace. ____________________________ Copyright 2004 William Vivrett ____________________________ |
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