My dad grew up with six older brothers, and whenever I am with my uncles I can always count on some type of competition. My uncles are the type of people to put one hundred percent effort into a backyard game of wiffleball. This competitive nature started in my uncles when they were kids, they always tell me countless stories of the brutal sibling rivalries that took place between them when they were growing up.The stories that strike me the most are the ones of the battles between my uncle Pat and my uncle Chip.
Pat and Chip were only a year apart and were constantly fighting each other. Growing up my uncle Pat was an under averaged sized kid. Chip was a huge kid with tree trunk legs and broad shoulders . When they would fight as kids Pat made up for what he didn’t have in size by being relentless. During fights Pat would come at Chip and get thrown down , but he would refuse to quit. When my uncles tell me these stories they say that the fights never had a winner because Chip was never fazed by what Pat tried to do to him , but Pat always refused to quit what he was doing.
The rivalry they had continued outside of just physical fighting. Academically they battled over who could have a higher GPA. Each of them was motivated by the other and they were both near the top of their class. They both also starred in the sports they played. Chip used his size and toughness to become a star football player. Pat used his relentlessness to become a star hockey player.
I got to witness this rivalry first hand when my uncle chip hosted a christmas party at his house a couple years ago. Pat and Chip disappeared and no one could find them for close to an hour. Finally they were found in the basement locked into an intense game of air hockey. Each of them was leaning over the old unstable air hockey table putting more weight on it then it looked like it could hold. Both of their eyes were locked in on the small plastic puck that was flying from one end of the table to the other.
Looking at my two uncles now it isn't surprising to hear of their childhoods. Both still embody the competitive personalities that they grew up with. My uncle chip is a huge six foot four 240 pound man who has incredible will and toughness that must have come from competing against Pat his whole childhood. My uncle Pats childhood is even more evident in the man he is now. Pat has is completely relentless in everything he does and refuses to quite at things until he has perfected them. These qualities must have come partially from fighting and competing against his unfazeable older brother.
Professionally they are the most successful out of any of my uncles. My uncle Pat worked his way through eight years of school and is now an oral surgeon. Chip earned an academic scholarship to college and now serves as the superior court justice for the state of Indiana. The rivalry that these two had growing up helped motivate them through their young lives, and help shape the people they became.