在现代社会中，有很多关于竞争的说法。有些把竞争评价得很高，认为这是社会进步和繁荣必需的。也有人说，竞争不好，它设置是一人对另一个；这导致人与人之间的恶意关系。
我教过很多孩子，他们将自我价值的信念依讬在网球和其他技能的表现。对于他们来说，打得很好和赢得比赛往往是生死存亡的大事。他们一门心思追求成功，许多人的素质的发展黯然被遗忘。
然而，尽管有些人似乎失去了成功的意欲，有些人则态度相反。面对一个将成败得失看得重的文化，他们会强烈指责竞争。反对竞争的，是那些惨受父母和社会竞争压力影响的年轻人。教导这些年轻人，我经常观察他们想失败的意愿。他们似乎是不想赢或取得成功，以寻求失败。不去尝试，他们总有借口：「我是输了，但并不重要，因为我真的没努力尝试。」他们通常都不会承认，即使他们真的尽力亦会失败，这信念意味着很多。
这样的失败将是他们自我价值的衡量。显然，这信念与真正的竞争者试图证明自己是一样的。两者都基于一个错误的观念，将人的自尊依赖于与他人比较时的自我表现；两者都害怕不被重视。只当这根本及经常困扰人的恐惧开始消溶，我们才能察觉包含在竞争中新意义。
~~~~~~~~~纯人手翻译，欢迎采纳~~~~~~~~~
原文如下：
In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity. Others say that competition is bad; that it sets one person against another; that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.
I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life-and-death affairs. In their single-minded pursuit of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.
However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among those who are against competition are young people who have suffered under competitive pressure from their parents or society. Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “I may have lost, but it doesn’t matter because I really didn’t try. ” What is not usually admitted by them is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot.
Such a loss would be a measure of their worth. Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one’s self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve can we discover a new meaning in competition.
