Does anyone win the rat race?

I feel like every generation, every age group has a rat race of their own. Right from the time a child opens his eyes to see the first rays of the sun, he's taught to speak, to walk, to express. How often have you heard mothers say "Oh my child spoke within his first 2 years", "My Chintu? He can pronounce his father's name without a lisp". "My baby's got the strongest legs, he never even needed a walker"

I grow up, the rat race for the best pre-school starts, I get into middle school, my peer group pressures me to be the most socially active, my parents pressure me to get to the top of the class. 
I grow up even some more, and here I am. Half a year away from adulthood, with 10 colleges in front of me, waiting to be studied for, waiting to be filled. 

I'm sure there are so many more rat races I've yet to run, without even signing up for. But my question is, does this rat race ever end? And, why is it even a race? Who wins this race? The man who ended up with the highest bank balance, and an even higher blood pressure? Or the actor who has a long list of fans and even longer list of antidepressants? Or the 20 year old adult who got into the best college, scored the highest marks, and jumped off an even higher ledge? 

What are we really chasing? Do we even have a goal or are we just running like mad fools hoping to one day reach a point where we just can't run anymore, and pass the baton to the next generation with the 'wise' words of "Run, run till it's time to pass the baton on again". 

Concepts of happiness, and inner peace I feel are only in dictionaries now. And with the pace at which we're constantly running, it's not long before if I time travel ahead a couple of generations, the youth won't even have heard of terms like joy or satisfaction. 

Colleges like DU, if given a chance would set their cut-offs to 102%, squeezing out every last drop of sanity left in an aspirant. Entrance exams will ask you the year of a Treaty signed a century before you were born, not bothering that the kid forgets the current year he's in. And amongst all this, when one asks for a little help, asks to go see a counsellor, we don't forget to stigmatise psychological help. And in the worst case scenario, the child, hopeless, with nowhere to go, finds a ledge or a blade and calls it a day, after which he was termed a quitter. 

So the next time you feel like you're running in the morning to go to work and skipping breakfast, stop and ask yourself is it worth it? Is the constant nagging of a corporate life really what you want in life, just because it gives an 8 figure bank balance? The next time you feel like you're quitting a hobby, ask yourself why are you 'really' doing this? 

And while I know most of you, will do the opposite, rush to work and quit the hobby anyways, reach out to me, if you find the finish line to this rat race, and tell me what was engraved on your trophy.