I answered Chris. I guess my thinking was due of the unit we are currently studying in my science classes. I am teaching my students about "survival of the fittest". I told Chris that, in a way, we are no different than animals. We have a drive to survive. Ours is just skewed by our intellect.
Humans don't necessarily have to compete for resources like animals. We have opposable thumbs! We can go BUY our food, we go HOME if we are cold, we climb into a BED if we are tired. Yet, we compete like animals, sometimes because we don't need to compete for resources like lower order animals.
We compete for jobs. We compete for significant others. We compete for property. We compete for the NUMBER ONE toy of the Christmas season. We compete for affection. I have students who argue ALL the time with each other over who is my favorite. (I always answer, '"I dislike you all the same!") Competition is a way of life for ALL living organisms.
For human, competition, unfortunately comes with emotions. If we don't get our kid that thing that every kid is getting, we feel like we have let them down. If we get passed by for a promotion, we feel devastated. If someone gets a gift that we were hoping to get, we feel jealous. The worst part about it, is, most of the time, we really SHOULDN'T feel those emotions. I have learned that EVERY time something like this happens to me, there is something better in store.
It would be nice if everyone could just be happy for each other when something good happens. We can always feel empathy and sympathy. Those emotions are easily tapped into and freely shared. Locking up that competitive, envious monster is another thing. Humans have such a sense of entitlement. We always feel we are "owed" something. Wouldn't it be nice if we just accepted what we are given, be happy for those who received better, and tried to be better givers?
