Greatness

Someday greatness will matter to you. Someday you will find yourself in a place where all you hope for is greatness. Greatness from yourself and greatness from those around you. Don’t you hope that when you need greatness you will find it?

I wonder though, will there be any greatness left when that time comes. “Great” is becoming “good” by the minute.

Right now greatness is playing in a soccer league that doesn’t keep score, declares no winner and gives every player the same trophy. It is in this same league that people are jealous of success, curse those who play too hard and decry teams for wanting to win instead of “just having fun”. Since when did winning and having fun become mutually exclusive?

Right now greatness is in a classroom where good enough has become good enough. Sharper minds are not singled out and cultivated. It seems we are sacrificing potential genius for the stable self image. “Don’t push them…it might hurt.”

Right now greatness is in a home where they are allowed to be “just ok”. There are no lines drawn in the sand. No real expectations to meet. Just stay out of major trouble and it is smooth sailing. The main goal is to get them up, get them ready and get them out the door so your day can start. “Let them find their own way”, “Kids will be kids”, and all that.

Greatness is not celebrated. It is not pursued, praised or purposed. The desire to cultivate greatness has been replaced with the need to make everyone feel special. No longer do we push our young people to be great. Seems like “ok” is the target…as long as they are happy. Average is as average does. Greatness rises up only when it has a reason to. When did we stop looking for potential and then jumping on it, grabbing it with both hands and holding onto it until it matures?

Someday it will matter to you.

Someday you may walk into a hospital to have a brain tumor removed. Don’t you want a surgeon who from an early age was praised for their efforts in school? A surgeon whose drive for excellence has long been cultivated? A surgeon for who top of the class was the only place worth shooting for?

Someday you may be on trial for a crime you did not commit. Don’t you want a lawyer who HATES to lose? A lawyer who learned to compete? A lawyer who wanted to win the medal? A lawyer who will grab a hold of injustice and wrestle it to the ground until it quits kicking?

Someday you may be on a plane that is going down. Don’t you want a pilot who learned to perform under pressure? A pilot who has always delivered in “those” moments? A pilot fixed on success? A pilot who refuses to see failure as an option?

Sometimes good enough just isn’t.

Greatness raises the bar and then jumps over it. Greatness sets the record and then crushes it. Greatness knocks down the door of opportunity. Why? Simply because that’s what greatness does.

Don’t be afraid to seek greatness. Hope for it. Look for it. Encourage it. Root for it.

Be it.

Greatness decided not to move to the back of the bus. Greatness decided that going to the moon was a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Greatness decided to give her life to those in Calcutta. Greatness decided you could replace a heart with a mechanism. Greatness decided to not give up after being cut from high school basketball and eventually won six world championships. Greatness decided that losing his hearing was no excuse to stop making music.

I wonder what greatness will do next...