Greatness (and maybe mediocrity)

On another thread the word "greatness" cropped up. The need to define it. Well, I waded in having time to spare from stargazing and other dubious pursuits. As I began I had in mind a bit of waffle about the greatness of our Chinese friends (which someone had equated with steel mills grinding out 24 hours a day and the building of dams.......I was quite amused that another had then observed that beavers were perhaps "great" ) I intended to speak of the Chan Buddhists, the Tang poets, Lao Tzu and Confucius. Fortunately, perhaps, I diverted from such and ended up with recollections of my father, a bit of a broken man following redundancy, of being thrown out like an old sock following 45 years of loyal and dedicated service.

Well, getting back to "greatness", having ruminated, I find I have little time for the word. Possibly this derives from my low church upbringing. I have never been inspired much by soaring cathedrals and processions of the mighty dressed up to the nines in ludicrous costumes. Give me the wooden shack and a simple human heart.

Which reminds me of a poem I have always loved, Resurrection:-

Is it true that after this life of ours we shall one day be awakened
by a terrifying clamour of trumpets?
Forgive me God, but I console myself
that the beginning and resurrection of all of us dead
will simply be announced by the crowing of the cock.

After that we’ll remain lying down a while…
The first to get up
will be Mother…
We’ll hear her
quietly laying the fire,
quietly putting the kettle on the stove
and cosily taking the teapot out of the cupboard.
We’ll be home once more.


I have now lost my thread having been interrupted on my park bench by a man whose bicycle lock had broken. We have had a conversation.

Where was I?

Not sure, but my coffee is finished and I must move on.

Just to add, in losing my thread somewhat, I forgot about the reference to mediocrity in the thread title. Of a short passage from Catch 22, about Major Major Major Major......

"Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three"

Greatness made me think of this.

Anyway.........anyone interested in defining their idea of "greatness"?

I think greatness as whole is almost impossible to define that it is a completely meaningless standard. Like a fluff goal, it sounds good but its essentially crap and nothing is going to get accomplished.

I do think you can measure individual thing and compare how well a person or country is doing, I just don't see a standard across the board.

I suppose the closest could be happiness. Being happy with you have is great, but that is going to vary for every different person or thing. Like the beaver is going going to be happy with the dam, the bear not so much when it stops the fish from swimming by for lunch.

Or is the bear happy because he doesn't compare the reality to the what if or what was. Is it the again that is the problem word and not great.

Like striving to be great is fine, but once you define it, you limit it for yourself or someone else. That is the issue i have, nothing in this world operates in a vacuum.

Thank you. Yes, impossible to define. Reality can only be lived, not "thought". Definitions tend to congeal and obstruct. At least I think so.

I'm not knocking words. I was looking at definitions and synonyms of "greatness" and it was all very suggestive and interesting.

Definitions:- the quality of being great; eminence or distinction.

Synonyms:- grandeur, glory, prominence, magnanimity........and so on.

Moving on to the "spiritual" (not a word I like) there is the "watercourse way" of the Tao, seeking the lowliest places, yielding; which has its own "greatness."

.......laying low
Seeking out the poorer quarters
Where the ragged people go
Looking for the places only they would know.

(Paul Simon, lines from "The Boxer" )

So many ways of seeing it played out. The French philosopher (and Algerian goalie!) Albert Camus once said:- "Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken."

And from the NT, the words of Christ, which find their echo in the Tao.....

"Let the greatest among you be the servant of all. For whoever makes himself great shall be humbled and whoever humbles himself shall be made great.”

Well, at least this all gives another perspective on those red Maga hats.

I don't think the MAGAts had "humble" or "servant" on their minds - at least in reference to themselves.

I think Greatness is personal. Outside of that, it doesn't really exist except in the minds of those who like to elevate those they consider heroes with superlatives. At this time we are hearing how "great" Diego Maradona was. We all have our own opinion about that.

When I say 'personal' I mean that there have been moments in my life that were special, not only by mere virtue of being out of the ordinary, but by being so incredibly life affirming, or fulfilling, or unique in such a way as to be, if not life defining, then at the very least, life altering. I can look at how things have turned out for me in specific ways and say to myself "It all began with......."

These moments or incidents wouldn't be considered especially great to anybody else and so I'll refrain from listing them. Most people would simply shrug and say "That happens to millions of people every day". And they'd be right.

But to me... in that moment, or looking back and seeing how they have altered my life, or the especial rewards they have brought to me..... they were, and still are, GREAT.

And just to clarify, in case somebody misunderstand me.... I don't think that these times have made me a "great" person. I'll never think that. As I said, it's entirely personal.

Maybe it's a case of the mysterious ways of the Lord ! Using the most unlikely to spread the message. Those seeing the hats being reminded of an America once great, "welcoming the stranger" according to the Statue of Liberty, of a vision perhaps of beating swords (or guns) into plowshares.

Everyone is happy. Some keep the hats, others get the message.