As the oldest of seven children, I like to consider myself somewhat of an expert in competition. I have seen it all: those on the bottom of the ladder scrambling to gain a more stable position, those on the top struggling to maintain their status and reputation, and those in the middle clinging to the rungs as they try to hang on. In my family, I am the one on the very top of the ladder. Except for the moments in which I must rouse myself to subdue a rowdy usurper, I have the privilege of sitting back and enjoying the spectacle. And I have come to the conclusion that competition—the constant battle in which each individual strives to secure the position of "best," "most valuable," "most skilled"—is meaningless.

There is no part of life which does not contain a competition factor. Siblings compete in everything from grades to relationships to hair styles; friends do the same; coworkers and teammates vie for the most attention. Is this a bad thing? No. Competition, when used the right way, is motivation to be better, stronger, and more confident. It is a tool, and a useful one at that. But in this world, where so many lives are dictated by the outcomes of contests, competition is a tyrant. Tools were never meant to be masters.

It's fascinating, how competition becomes the reason for so many foolish actions backed by meaningless reasons and followed by alarming consequences. This remarkable occurrence is observable in everything from the mindless way we follow popular designers' fashion dictates to the deaths that are caused every New Year's Eve by drunk drivers. Competition has come to be about an individual human being or group of human beings proving personal worth through comparison to others. And the most striking part of this phenomenon is that the contest itself does not have to involve the individual in question. It is sufficient that the individual's child, pet, or favorite sports team comes out on top—because the worth of anything associated with the individual directly affects that individual's own worth. In a world where convenience determines usefulness, people can prove their importance without lifting a finger.

Competition was never meant to be about comparison. This sort of competition is useless, and it is destroying us. We spend our lives striving after standards that we don't understand but must meet, trampling over those in our way as we go, for reasons that we can't articulate but that are somehow valid. Has anyone in this blind scramble for importance stopped to consider why? Why must we each be the ruler of our own small worlds? Why must we all follow each other in the rush to be first? Why is there a rush to be first at all? We think that being on top of the world will make us satisfied, even happy, but when we reach the top we find that there is no top. There is always someone else in the way.

History's most revered figures are revered because they refused to compare themselves to others. The men and women we admire the most are not competitors. They reached the top, but they reached the top without meaning to. George Washington never wanted to be the President of the United States. How did he come to be one of the greatest people ever to live? Why do we exalt Mother Teresa, Jesus, Nelson Mandela? They never stopped to compare themselves to others. They walked their own paths, with their own purposes. They set their own goals based on what they felt they were called to do, rather than on the goals of others. Because they refused to compare themselves to their peers, they were never held back or limited by society’s standards. They held no competition with anyone but themselves. Thus, they became truly great. And they proved that competing to achieve is worthless.

Competition was once a glorious thing, one of the most useful tools given to man. Turning it into the cruel game it has become is one of the worst mistakes we have made over the centuries. Tools are meant to be ruled, not to rule. If competition has turned from a means of motivation into a petty method of comparison, what other tools can we look forward to losing in the future?