If one is in a situation where one has to compete with someone to get a potential partner and he/she gives up as soon as he/she finds out about the other candidate.
Would you consider it cowardice or wisdom?
(For me, I would never like to compete for a girl no matter what she looks like :()
you are mixing up 2 different things.
1: Are you sure that they are in love?
2: are you sure that the guy/girl who is not competing is not in any kind of complex?
if you love someone then i guess every sensible person will give a try .. For sure! but if you have some kind a complex compared to the "other" person you are competing to you then you will try to come up with random reasons of not competing or this n that :)
Re: Not competing for love, what would you call it?
Wisdom...just be confident in yourself and who you are.
It will be more like cowardice if you put your own self down and completely back out of pursuing someone you thought might actually be the "one". Pursuing doesn't have to be competition...it can simply be keeping in touch, being pleasant company, and being comfortable in your own skin.
Re: Not competing for love, what would you call it?
It's not that I face this situation regularly, i faced this situation only once in my life and backed out in the beginning and at that time I was very young so it was a very wise decision. Now I think what I would have gone through if I competed and failed.