Competition: friend or foe?
Charlotte Yeldon, a College II (yr13) student at Bootham School, examines the place of competition in the Quaker context taking as her theme the life of Joseph Rowntree – Bootham Old Scholar and social reformer
We are always told to more work quickly, reflect less and produce more, but at what expense? Our society has become controlled by competition and the ruthless need for success. But honest hard work is no longer sufficient, celebrity culture monopolises our society and TV screens, when news of Jordan’s latest marriage is more important than the economy’s positive economic growth, you have to wonder what is valuable. People are valued less, but exploited more. Competition has embedded itself into the fabric of everyday life. Pride and self-respect have been lost as we have become shameless in the pursuit of fame and media attention. You may think that this gives little hope for our society; but I have found a hermitage, where people flourish without becoming cruel and merciless. Quaker values teach respect, humility modesty and equality. Even when the Victorians were oppressing factory workers, Quakers were creating equivalent opportunities and developing communities.
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