The winner?...

By Vichara

“I’m the winner, I’m the winner, whoo hoo, and you’re a loser!” From my neighbor’s yard came this declaration from a little girl. Although I could not see her through the trees I heard such exuberance in her voice. A good amount of how things are measured is to identify the ultimate winner of each situation or activity. Even in one of my own daughter’s world as a young dancer they have competitions to determine who is the better dancer over individuals or groups. I know you will be thinking that the element of competition has been around for centuries and exalted in such historical events as the Olympics. While yes this element has been around for a very long time I am focusing on the element of competition where, if someone does declare themselves a winner, they use this as a tool of demeaning and lauding over the other person or group that they are inferior. If you personally need to have a winner in your daily activities then perhaps instead of using it as a sharp tool, acknowledge the other’s efforts and encourage them all. There is enough suffering in the world, why add to it.

inordinate • \in-OR-dun-ut\ • adjective
: exceeding reasonable limits : immoderate

Example Sentence:
Mary complained that she had to spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning up after her two sloppy roommates.

Did you know?
At one time if something was "inordinate," it did not conform to the expected or desired order of things. That sense, synonymous with "disorderly" or "unregulated," is now archaic, but it offers a hint at the origins of "inordinate." The word traces back to the Latin verb "ordinare," meaning "to arrange," combined with the negative prefix "in-." "Ordinare" is also the ancestor of such English words as "coordination," "subordinate," "ordination," and "ordain." "Ordinare" did not give us "order," "orderly," or "disorderly," but the root of those words is the same Latin noun ("ordo") from which "ordinare" itself derives.