great·ness

But what is greatness, really? How do you define it? Who embodies it? How does one know when they’ve achieved greatness?

Greatness is what inspires you. It is something that, when you see it, you feel some sense of awe or aspiration. Greatness is something that we see is inherently good in all ways. Greatness is something that once recognized, is never forgotten.

Think of a time when you believe you’ve witnessed greatness…

The joint efforts I witnessed of people affected by Hurricane Sandy and the support of an entire nation.

When my dad received his liver transplant, and I experienced what a large network of people worked tirelessly for him to have a second chance.

Watching a great friend of mine take on huge strides in community service with a national organization, while also teaching inner city kids in an after school program (and maintaining straight A’s through college).

One nurse in my dad’s home that makes sure he always has the Phillies game on.

The woman I know who stopped her car to care for a possum that someone else had run over.

Every human wall ever built.

These moments are big and small, and this list could go on forever with the more I think about it. I have seen so many wonderful things in my short lifetime that all have one thing in common: Greatness.

So how do these people and places and times embody greatness?

Each of these moments have given me faith in humanity, faith in my generation, an overall awakening to how truly good people can be to each other and for each other. The connectivity that greatness inspires can multiply as long as the people who see it are willing to foster it, sustain it, and let it prosper.

And when you are surrounded by greatness, it becomes contagious.

When you witness greatness all around you in your daily interactions, I believe that it is impossible to not also aspire to be great. That awe and inspiration that you felt remembering any of the moments; if you could feel that 24/7, would you? I believe that feeling is what makes greatness grow, and what inspires people to strive for greatness.

So to my final question: How does one know when they’ve achieved greatness?

Do they ever know? Is there some standard, bar, or cap for greatness that a person attempts to attain in their quest for greatness?

I don’t think I ever want to know. If there was a time when a person already knew that they met the standard for greatness, then the standards have already changed. If a person has made their mark, inspired others, made great achievements for the overall good of others, there is no finish line. Greatness is not achieved like an award, it is met and sustained consistently by people willing to foster and sustain it, and let it prosper. Nothing that ever prospered stopped to think, “Am I done prospering yet?”

And no person who truly embodied greatness stopped what they were doing to ponder, “Have I achieved greatness yet?”

When you see greatness, harness that feeling and nurture it within yourself. Feed it with your own positivity and ambitions and never let it die. Then you, too, will achieve greatness.

Be the change that you wish to see in the world.
~Ghandi