Good or Great?

Each morning as I wake up, I face one dilemma more than any other: whether I must be a good man or a great man. If you don’t know the difference, it is quite simple to tell the two people apart. A good man might not have all the resources in the world, all the success in the world, or even many friends. Yet the good man is completely pure, never an action for the wrong side, never shying away from supporting another and leading a helping hand. The great man is not exactly the opposite, yet there are some things they have to give up in order to rise above. A great man won’t approach you; you approach the great man. A great man does have all of the resources and successes. Yet to them, they mean very little, because someone great has no limit, no end, nothing where they stop and say that is all.

So it might seem like the choice is clear, right? You must want to be great. Alone, as I wake up in the morning, I do want to feel great, but as the day passes, as I move on to other things and see the world around me, I realize at times the level of demand there is for a good man. How important it is for someone at the individual level to have a positive influence on them. How one person supporting another could just change that person's life Yet, how useful is it to change lives one at a time?

Outside of the people I interact with every day, when I see the world as a whole, I see a greater requirement for greatness. Maybe that is just the way I see the world, yet would it not be better if everyone simply had one person to look up to, and that is what drives them out of the traps of their current existence? A good man might make everyone around him feel good, but a great man can make even those who don’t know him feel as if they are better off with him around.

So why can't you be both? Why must we choose in this dilemma where both sides seem to be worthwhile? It is very rare that someone fits both sides; I have only seen it in one person. Yet what did it cost? What is the cost for someone to become great? If I had to choose one, and I chose greatness each morning, why do I face the confusion of wanting to be both each morning?