I thought that President Obama's speech made a nice point about greatness:"In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned."
Greatness, in addition to many other characteristics such as honesty, compassion, faith, courage, is a moment-to-moment quality. People aren't born great; they don't have the great gene. You don't achieve greatness and then coast on it for the rest of your life-- just look at the stereotypical high school quarterback or prom queen at their 20 year high school reunion.
No, greatness is something you are continually inventing for yourself. In some situations you may be great, in others not. The good news here is that, at any given moment, we always have the option to be great. Just because you weren't great this morning doesn't mean that you can't be great in the afternoon. Just because you weren't great to your husband last week doesn't mean that you can't be great to him right now. The clean-slatedness of greatness is full of hope and opportunity.
I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to be great tonight.
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Aristotle is quoted as saying "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."
ReplyDeleteIf excellence is like greatness and those other characteristics, could it be that greatness is not a moment-to-moment quality, but a habit sustained by a reinforcing sequence of great choices and decisions?
Or maybe is it like learning how to run. When you first start out, you go once or twice per week for short distances, and each time is a one-off. As you develop the habit and build up your muscles and cardio system, you run longer, faster, and harder. In both cases you are running, and should feel darned proud about it. But in the second case, you have committed to make running a more integral part of your life.
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