I believed, even if the jury hadn't, that there were other explanations for the similarity in handwriting than the one I had argued to them. On reflection, after the verdict, it seemed to me that the defendant might have been telling the truth. Wishman follows through on his doubts and with some difficulty gets the conviction overturned. It would have been possible, in fact, quite easy to have dropped the matter. Competition is not something that just happens, nor is it inevitable.
Competition is learned.
Competition and the idea of winning are so commonplace in our culture that we sometimes lose sight of other goals and ideals. We forget the moral cost of living to win. At bottom, ours is a society built on individualism, competition, and success. These values bring great personal freedom and mobilize powerful energies. At the same time, they arouse great temptations to shoulder aside one's competitors, to cut corners, to ignore, the interests of others in the struggle to succeed.