Teddy Roosevelt, Greatness, Haters, We Got This.

Today's musings were inspired by a story I heard on NPR about why there are so few great presidents.  Interesting stuff, though contestable.  The haters had a field day leaving comments (oh, the internets... I imagine the internets as some version of Hades and all the haters share one body, sort of like a mutant Cerberus, yapping away at all who try to enter).

We are the haters of the internets.

So what does it take to be great?  And more importantly, can’t we all be great?  I think so.  Fo’ sho’!  But how?  If you’re a president, according to Aaron David Miller, you need to face some big ol’ crisis, wade through it in a way that extracts some sort of positive change for the country, and then, after some time goes by, you have to be embraced by your supporters and adversaries alike.  My current history crush, Teddy Roosevelt even lamented not having a crisis “worthy of his mettle” through which he could prove himself. 

Now this I can get behind!  It is so true that slogging through crises are what make us great.  But it’s not just facing hard times that make us great.  We’ll all face hard times.  Some of us have larger giants to slay than others, but they’re all giants.  And some of us have more to slay than others, but fighting any number of giants is damn scary.  The greatness in our own lives comes from learning from those battles.  And it can’t stop there because you can’t learn without making a change.  This is where a lot of us fall short.  I mean, how many times have I faced some problem, often of my own making, only to face the same kind of problem again (also of my own making).  Did I learn something from the battle?  Yes.  Did I learn it hard enough to make some sort of positive change?  Ehhhhhnope.  Or, this is perhaps more common, we learn it enough to make a temporary change, but then we slip right back to the same mistakes again.  Not great.  So all we have to do is stop doing that.  Easy if you open your eyeballs!  While I still dig myself into holes sometimes, I’m getting better at noticing when I’m picking up a shovel so I can put it down.  I’m also getting better at climbing out before they are too deep.  It gets easier, for all of us, once we start paying more attention.

Then there’s that last part, being appreciated for what you've done by supporters and adversaries alike.  At first, this might seem easy to reject.  All you have to do is look at those Cerberus-heads of all the haters to say, “Yeah, well there’s always going to be someone to pull you down and detract from your achievements.”  But if you really live up to your values and your standards, the haters won’t have much to say.  And the supporters will be there, happier than ever to support.

Now this doesn't seem so bad.  Doable, in fact.  Let’s do it, friends.  Let’s go out and be great.  Maybe even the greatest.