On The Question of Being Great

 "Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be." - Charles de Gaulle

Am I determined to to be great?

No no, not the greatness the world so often confuses as greatness:  the attention, the money, the glamour, the power over the wavering masses entranced by one's brightness and glory.  The greatness I am referring to is that simple greatness where we simply are everything that we can possibly be.

Why is this important?  The reality is that greatness as the world defines it will always be a very small percentage of the world, too small for too many things that need doing not to get done.  By surrendering to less than greatness, to believing that being great (and therefore doing great things) is reserved for a particular or peculiar few, we cede the power we each have to accomplish anything.

We become the less great, the average, the mediocre, those that exist in the twilight of "The Great Ones", seeking to capture a piece of their limelight or convincing ourselves that we are supremely happy in just being noticed by them or being in their presence.  And thus we wander through our lives, hapless shadow beings that never seem to do what we need to or want to and accomplish nothing of significance or benefit, perhaps wondering why our time has never come but sure that greatness is for the great, not for us.

But this revolves around our definition of greatness.  If greatness is only achieved by fame and recognition, then this is true.  But if it is not- if it is achieved by each of us being the best "us" that we can be, then it is a false statement. 

A thing which is otherwise small may great to the one to whom it impacts - even if that one is a single person for which no-one else will recognize or know.  The greatness in inherent in us becoming the person to do the great thing, not in the visibility or greatness of the thing.

The world is in desperate need of great deeds to resolve signficant issues and to encourage others that such things are possible.

Determine to do great things.  Determine to be great.