Well, not really. But we like to pretend. 'Cause we've got...
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Anywhoosles, I thought I'd make today's blog about something that I was thinking about last night. Here it goes--enjoy!
When you look at all the so-called "great" people in the world, you wonder what makes them great, right? Because deep down, each one of us wants to matter. We want to be famous; we want to be important. In the words of Colin Singleton, we want to matter. We want to step over the line between "prodigy" and "genius" (if you don't understand why I used the words "prodigy" and "genius", or for that matter, don't know who Colin Singleton is, I suggest you read An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green. While you're at it, go ahead and read his other books, too--they're just as entertaining, if not more so.) The driving force of humanity, the very reason we build houses and get jobs and take laborious amounts of college classes and work nine-hour jobs and drive cool cars and found new countries and find cures for new diseases and write really good books and make really good movies, the reason for ALL THIS is that at one point in history, humans were perfect beings!
My theory is that maybe, deep down, people want to get back to the perfection that we once had, before we screwed everything up, by doing stuff that leaves an impact, be it a cool movie or an impressive building or money for our kids or whatever. But that same driving force is also why many people try to "matter" by means of superficial things--like plastic surgery, who has the coolest car, and the "American Dream" aspects.
The question that is posed, then, is quite simple, yet also deeply complicated and rooted in philosophical and theological backgrounds--what does it take to be great? Or, more concisely, what is greatness?
Don't worry, this is not one of those questions that has no answer, like all those rhetorical questions your parents would ask you after you did something really bad, such as "Why did you do it?", when the only answer you can truthfully give is, "I don't know," because, let's face it, when you're that age, you do something either because your parents told you to, or as a spasmodic reaction to stimuli including, but not entirely limited to, peer pressure and chocolate.
Although, I could say, "I don't know," and then I wouldn't have to write anymore.
....naaah, this is fun. Let's keep going.
So--greatness. What is it?
Well, greatness is two parts, conveniently enough. Part One is about what you do, and Part Two is about how you do Part One.
Part One: The first thing I'd like to say is that Teddy Roosevelt was wrong. Wrong, wrong, indubitably wrong. First off, nobody's born great, and if you think you were born great, you're suffering from the delusional self-elevation that plagues a lot of movie stars and musicians nowadays. Those people aren't great, they're just really good at what they do and they know it. Secondly, greatness is not "thrust upon you" like some gift. True, sometimes you get opportunities to become somebody more than you are, but these work differently than gifts.
You see, when you get a gift, you don't have to work for it, hence the fact that even bad children get gifts on Christmas and you don't have to really do anything to be Saved. (not that you can do whatever you want once you're saved, just that you don't have to, like, cut off your right arm and sacrifice it along with your firstborn son and your prized, autographed John Mayer CD or anything silly like that) However, when you get an opportunity to be great, you're not just rich and famous and that's it. I mean, look at Bill Cosby--he had to work his butt off every single day just to get noticed by people. Look at such internet phenomenons like ShayCarl and Phillip DeFranco--they didn't get famous just by sitting around with a camera all day. They had to come up with entertaining material, film it possibly several times, edit the videos...lots of work for very little reward. But when you work for a really long time at something, no matter what it is, eventually your hard work pays off for something.
My point is that even if "greatness" is literally just given to you, like you're the child of a business tycoon or something, you still have to work hard to be successful. That's the cool thing about America--in theory, anybody with the talent and the moxie can become anything they want to be, because we have the freedom to decide what we want our lives to look like.
So, Part One: Greatness isn't just inherited, effort is required for it.
Part Two: I remember reading a portion of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, wherein the following quote was found--"It is an odd coincidence that the people who don't want to be Galactic President are those who are the most qualified for that position, and those who want it the most are most often the least qualified." (sorry, Other Kyle, I butchered that quote, but the sentiment remains) The point is that those people who actively think they are great and flaunt it around are the people who really aren't great, they're usually just really good at something or they've got an ego just a little bit smaller than that of Zaphod Beeblebrox.
I'd also like to point out that many truly great people we admire are, indeed, human. The movie stars that you adore, the musicians you listen to, the people you idolize, they go home every day to live regular lives. The greatest people in the world have always had a connection with the simple things in life--the regular, non-glamorous lifestyle that we all tend to think is restricted to us middle-class, regular people is actually the life of many great people.
Finally, I'd like to add that these "great things" that you do, they affect everybody around you. Just think of all the changes to society, for instance, that were brought about by the Beatles--everything changed! Music, philosophy, education, the Hippie movement, those things were started in part because of the influence of five British guys. Now, before you go talking about how the Beatles were druggies and not all of the changes they brought were good, I'll prove you right by saying that the fields of philosophy and (the will for) education have degraded horribly (for the most part) since that era. This is why you need to make sure that what you're doing is actually going to benefit the people you are influencing in the long run. Is the philosophy you're putting out there really on par with the morals and values of a God-fearing Christian? Because in the future, it's really going to matter for the people that were influenced by you and your actions.
True greatness, therefore, can be described as doing things that will influence other people with an attitude of humility, respect, love, and gratitude. In a more concise manner of speaking (excluding, of course, the attitude required to be great), greatness is making other people's lives better in the long run.
Anyway, that's all I have to say today. Sorry this blog was late, I literally had no time whatsoever yesterday to get this done.
I feel like I've been entirely too serious, so I'll give you a picture of a puppy:
Until next time,
--CommanderSnowball
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