Greatness

                Where do one’s conscious desires end and coincidence (fate) begin when it comes to the events in one’s life that make that life great? We have been programmed to think that people who do great things are not consciously seeking to reach greatness or glory but rather stumble into it by devoting themselves to a great cause. That humility is in part what makes them great and cockiness if any is to be had is something that hampers their greatness. I must however question these affirmations, for when MLK or Ghandi sought out to make things better for themselves and their people they had to some extent be aware of their potential greatness. They had to know that being low-key was not going to be an option after their actions had bore fruit. By the same token, one sees a similar but opposite occurrence when one examines a person who knew and admitted he was seeking greatness. Let us examine the great Julius Caesar, who knew that by crossing the Rhine and marching into Rome he would be remembered for as long as people remembered the empire of the same name. Caesar’s claim to fame wasn't so much his military triumph or his boldness; these are merely anecdotes to the history of a man who is as famous today as he has ever been. Julius Caesar is famous and his myth perpetuated because of the way he was slain, because those around him believed he had grown too powerful, indeed had he not been assassinated, the senate may have just as well taken back the republic after his natural death.  At most he would have had the status of Charlemagne or Romulus but not that of the superhuman first emperor of Rome. Perhaps greatness is a bit of a mix between desire (for greatness) and fate, a mix that must come together in the right proportion and be sparked by some unforeseen event to truly bring greatness. Too much of one thing or another can render the mixture non-reactive and excess of both can flood the proverbial engine of greatness.