I see competition, as long as it is a healthy one, a potential that can drive me forward. During all my years as a student, I was a competitive person. The schools I attended offered competitive environment where most students strove to be the top.While we were competing, a sincere love and respect for each other existed as well and this relationship made us enjoy the competition among us. 

Even when one of us would lose in a competition, it was not the end of the world. To us competition was  not a "zero sum" game where someone else's success would mean the other person is doomed to fail. 

We all had built our own niche where we were good at. We all knew our strengths and would rely on those strengths to move forward. Knowing our strengths and having confidence in ourselves enabled us to focus on what we were doing.

Now, I am facing competition in my workplace in Afghanistan. But wait, do I even want to call this a competition?  I am not sure yet. I am only used to the kind of competition where respect for each each other is maintained.

Here in Afghanistan competition in the workplace takes the form of dishonesty, stabbing in the back and making false accusations merely to demean your character and backbiting. Of course, none of these paths gets one to one's goals, but they do have enough power to hinder the other person, who is working hard to become successful, from moving forward. Such factors may eventually cause someone to give up, as there is no room left for fighting back.