It is quite apparent that competition surrounds every aspect of human life whether in the United States or the Amazon Rain Forest. I'm not implying that competition is nefarious, because it is the most important aspect of human life. Without it we would not have evolved from primates. Or we would probably still be struggling to sharpen a bronze tool while crawling around on four legs in search of meat. Without competition, Columbus wouldn't have discovered America and Edison would never have invented the light bulb. If it weren't for competition, I would be inscribing this paper on a papyrus scroll or maybe even carving it into stone, but certainly not typing it into a computer.

Friendship, like all relationships between two people, involves competition. It isn't competition in a traditional sense because there are no goals to be scored and no prize at stake. Perhaps the ecological definition - "the simultaneous demand by two or more organisms for limited environmental resources, such as nutrients, living space, or light" - better explains competition between friends.

As in nature, high school life is governed by a set of indisputable laws, similar to a shortened version of Darwin's theory of evolution, overpopulation, and competition. There is an abundance of high school students and to distinguish them, ranking and categorizing must take place. Some students get athletic scholarships, others merit awards, and still others will be prom kings or queens. If only one person wanted to be the class president, or if everyone who wanted to could be, there would be no problem in determining the leader. However, this is not the case. Many want the position, but there is opportunity for only one. The result of this conflict is competition.

In high school, friendships learn to co-exist with competition even though at times the relationship is rough. In fact, in some circumstances, competition is too much of a burden for a friendship to bear, causing it to fall apart.

College acceptance is the ultimate high school objective, the first and foremost goal of all those who participate in academic, athletic, or social competition. Four years of hard work to achieve good grades, and a student's fate is determined not only by these attributes, but by the records of thousands of other seniors trying to achieve a similar recognition.

Nevertheless, by necessity, competition between students exists in all aspects of high school life (academics, athletics, romance, and popularity). It sets and improves the standards in everything from sports to schoolwork. A healthy, friendly rivalry can have only benefits, but when competition becomes too fierce, jealousy can rip friendships apart. Yet, despite all this, without competition, we would be lost. ?