thoughts on greatness.

as a child, grown-ups(mostly teachers) always seemed to tell me that each and every person was destined for greatness. being young and naive, i believed their words. but as i grew older, i began to question their beliefs of everyone's certain destiny to be great(perhaps i may have misunderstood their good intentions to inspire and encourage but let us not get carried away). i often wondered to myself, "how can everyone be great? if everyone was great, then who among us would be the greatest?" several years go by, as i ponder upon this mystery of greatness and at long last, after a much tiring search, i have come to a conclusion of sorts.

greatness is indeed in all of us; but he who is(or will become) great knows how to seize the greatness from within himself. greatness is not a certain destiny, it is a conscious choice(or rather, a series of brave and daring/careful and calculated choices). one cannot not expect to find greatness in himself upon waking up from a restful slumber; neither can one attain greatness by squandering his life in pursuit of the worldly and frivolous pleasures of this world. this is not how one would go about greatness. i would like to think that greatness comes from within; reflection, remembering and constant/persistent trying.

and then i realised that not everyone will achieve greatness. some will stop trying while others cannot be bothered to be great. greatness, as most of us have realised by now, seems impossible and can be likened to chasing the wind. and the ones that do become great; they are only a handful and amongst themselves, they care little for who should be the greatest, because they all have a quiet regard and respect for each other; for each of them are great in their own unique way.