Defining Greatness

What makes you great? How is greatness defined? It's such a confusing mess out there in media land, because mass media would have you believe that it's money, status, job title, fame, fortune and how much you own that define greatness.

So if you were born into a rich family, does that make you great? Does having a high position in billion-dollar companies make you great? If you happened to make it big in Hollywood, does that make you great?

Here's my short list of what defines greatness:

1) Who you serve.
There are those who serve themselves and there are those who serve others. Those who manage things so that they garner great profits may make wonderful business people but do not necessarily embody greatness. It is your degree of service to others that makes you great. And it doesn't just have to do with making it in the business world. If you go to work everyday - no matter what your job is - and your only intention is to get a paycheck - you are serving yourself. If you go to work everyday because you want to use your talents and your abilities to do some good, you are serving others.

Greatness in terms of service is not sacrifice but rather a recognition that you can do some good in the world and do it. Even small ripples can grow into waves of change. Knowing that you are capable of making ripples, no matter how small, and then making them - that's greatness.

2) Kindness
Kindness is second nature for those who embody greatness. And it is a foreign as anything to those who don't. Those who are busy, busy, busy and embroiled in their own welfare and advancement, are generally the ones who are also too busy to be kind. Those who don't take themselves as so important will always sense the need for kindness and offer it.

3) Compassion
Compassion ties with kindness. You have to be great to truly embody compassion. There is nothing intellectual about it, there is nothing you can cheat your way through - compassion is simply the ability to see yourself in another person's shoes, and once again, if you are so busy with bettering your own self, you generally will not be able to do that. The ability to let go of your own self-gain and recognize that the other person is you - that's greatness.

Really, our media is so very mixed up. We idolize those who are rich and wealthy (99.9%of the pages) but to grasp a reader we make sure there's an everyday hero element (0.01%). What makes tears come to your eyes? The person who made a movie or the teacher who helped 40 kids stay in school and graduate? That's not to say that the person who made the movie isn't great!! It's just that greatness is not defined by that, but rather by who that person serves and whether they embody qualities like kindness and compassion.

It gets confusing because the message being put out there is confusing, but when you look inside yourself, you have to know that greatness is not determined by whether you made it to the front of the magazine, but by how you use your God-given gifts in the world - do you make the world a better place or is life only about making your life a better place? That is a choice.

Blessings.
- Darshan



© 2010 Darshan F Jessop