Greatness

I was kind of stumped on a topic for today (yesterday). I could talk about how it snowed this week and seeing snowflakes on car windows its one of my new favorite things. I could talk about how cold it was this week, which is NOT one of my favorite things. I could talk about the two "family style" dinners I had this weekend, one Filipino meal at Amazing Melody's apartment (another cohort member musically gifted) that was OH SO GOOD or the equally tasty though culturally opposite Italian dinner we had at Cardmaster Cider's when her mom came to visit. While these were lovely times full of great friends, conversation and games that I may reflect upon more later, I still felt stumped.

I began asking myself what are my goals in writing this blog. Not that I'm thinking about stopping, but sometimes I wonder why people want to read updates or status reports on my life. Boredom I'm sure. But many used to come here looking for crazy stories about Brock or Naysayer or the like. Entertainment value really. Others I suppose come to make sure I'm still alive and thriving in Ohio. Some of my new friends here may even come to see if I talk much about them (we're getting there, but I have to feel like you are comfortable with me talk about your lives in a semipublic way). Finally, I hope that you come for the musings. The ponderous moments that have been central to my blog lately. I hope they make you think or consider stuff or at least aren't things you just skim over, because they are things that make ME think and this is partly for me to sort my thoughts and partly for me to spark discussion, so feel free to discuss. Maybe we'll both learn something.

So today, because I was really not sure what to discuss, I bring up Martin Luther King, Jr. It is MLK Day, one of those holidays that not everyone celebrates or even remembers but school and government locations get the day off for. Today is my last day off until spring break and then Memorial day, which is kind of depressing. In CA we got Presidents Day off too, but in OH, President's Day and Columbus day get lumped into Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Silly? Yes, especially in a state whose capital is Columbus.

Anyway, I am not actually the most well versed in MLK Jr. knowledge and lore. I know the basic facts of the Civil Rights Movement, the I Have a Dream Speech and his assassination. I know he was a reverend and prayerful Christian and spent some time in jail where he developed discourses and continued to promote the peaceful acts of civil disobedience. A gifted orator, I think he deserves a special day, because his speeches and actions changed our country for the better.

This made me think about the great people in recent times whose legacies continue today. There are not many people who we can call Great. The word great is used literally every day in casual speech, but it also has special significance when you say someone was truly Great. There are a few names that come to mind: MLK Jr., Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma is an honorific meaning Great Soul), Mother Teresa, and Abraham Lincoln. These people have stood the test of time and scrutiny as truly great people, who did great things in their lives. Gandhi, through his peaceful, non-violent ideologies that shaped the 20th Century, led India to independence and helped keep it from slipping into chaos. Mother Teresa tended the poor of Calcutta and much of India with simple acts of love and wisdom, bringing peace and solace to the poorest people often at the lowest points of their lives. Honest Abe held true to his ideals and managed to lead a nation through Civil War, advocating human rights, forgiveness, and holding true to his ideals and that of the country he lead. These four Great people are those that we look to today for guidance on ethics, morals and what you can do with perseverance and love.

There are many more that I want to acknowledge. I spent some wikipedia time on Nelson Mandela, who despite being a guerrilla warfare advocate also eventually earned the Nobel Peace Prize. Pope John Paul II is now called John Paul the Great, an honorific only given to three other popes (all before 1000 AD). He helped reconcile the Catholic Church with the world through his apologies, bridged relationships between Catholics, Jews and Muslims among others, and contributed to the fall of communism, especially in Poland. He's well on his way to being a saint, a process that requires intense scrutiny of whether he live a holy life (found that he did, earning him the title Venerable), if there were any miracles because of him (found one already earning him the title Blessed) and if he gets one more miracle, he will official receive the title Saint. Sainthood is just the Catholic Church's way of saying, this person was Great.

So as I continue down my life, feeling in no way called to the leadership that these great people found, either in position, by example, or both, I acknowledge that I should still strive for greatness, as we all should. This is achieved through education, dedication, a little bit of luck and lots of love. Yup. Stir in a pot for 5 to 50 years or so during times of trial and turmoil and you'll be Great. It's that easy (HA!).

So I leave off my grand thoughts with a few extraordinary quotes from the people I discussed today. Enjoy!

Gandhi- A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.

MLK Jr.- Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.

Lincoln- With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan...

Mother Teresa- Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

Nelson Mandela- The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

JPII- Faced with today's problems and disappointments, many people will try to escape from their responsibility. Escape in selfishness, escape in sexual pleasure, escape in drugs, escape in violence, escape in indifference and cynical attitudes. I propose to you the option of love, which is the opposite of escape.

Have a great week all!

Reading; Contingency Theories of the organizational theory kind

Listening to: In Ohio on some Steps- Limbeck

Playing: TOR- life... gone...