Opus 2023-138: Go for the Gold

Will there be competition in eternity?  This is actually a serious consideration.  We have members of the woke community that have been working for years to drive the toxic masculinity of competition from the public square.  I have never been to one but I hear there are soccer matches in which they don’t keep score.  Sports that generate competition are discouraged.  Cooperative exercises are the order of the day.  I guess the real question I am asking is, “Is competition evil?”  Will we have a desire to win in heaven*?

I would say, yes, because many of us enjoy a rousing challenge.  The cost of winning and losing is often important to activities we pursue.  I reflect on my experience playing poker.  I really enjoyed the brief experience I had with poker but quickly realized it would be a way for me to either become addicted or lose my shirt, probably both.

So our family tried playing poker with no real money involved.  The cards were the same.  The odds were figured the same.  We could tell who won and who lost.  Why was it so boring?  Because we always had people who would make risky bets because it was fun and they really had nothing to lose.  They would bet everything in their pile for no reason but the hope it would bring you down.  In a game based on probability and odds it doesn’t take too many moments of foolish risk taking to destroy the dynamic of the game.  Many things in life are like that.

What will be different in heaven* is our attitude because we will be beyond jealousy and pettiness.  I don’t have to win to enjoy competition.  I can rejoice with the winner.  It is twice as much fun if the battle is neck-and-neck down to the finish line.  What makes competition a problem is a desire to injure or belittle.  

The same would apply to practical jokes.  It is one reason why there may be no liberals in heaven, they can’t laugh at themselves.  They only think something is funny when it hurts someone they don’t really care about.  That is also why they want to bore us with smarmy kumbaya circles.  They know it can take the joy out of life.

So irritate a woke liberal.  Have a race with your grandchild to see who can finish their ice cream first.  Have a tickle competition.  Count who can pick up the most toys when it is time to send them home.  It is okay if you cheat a little so that they win.

*Heaven - I know that “heaven” is technically not the right word for eternal life but it is the word most people use.  In this case I will bend to common practice.

homo unius libri