I often contemplate the greatness of human kind, but when I am cut off in traffic, or shown the international sign of ill-will, I contemplate the antithesis, or how low we can go. Greatness or destruction are in us all.

I came across this quote by C.S. Lewis that illuminates this idea of greatness, or worse. He says, “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you may talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities… that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit— immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.”

There is greatness in all of us. We all can go far beyond what we are now. In the movie, “Thelma and Louise”, the character, Louise Sawyer says to Thelma, “You get what you settle for”, meaning that sometimes greatness is too much work to reach. I paraphrase that by saying, “You ARE what you settle for.” There is greatness in all of us.

The dreams in our hearts and minds were not put there to frustrate us. They are there because we CAN be those dreams. We are that great. We can be that athlete, that vocalist, that instrumentalist, student, mother, father, husband, wife, son, daughter, the list goes on. Whatever you dream, you can be. There is greatness in all of us.

So, why are we all not Di Vinci, Churchill, Reagan, Kennedy, Hemingway, Twain, Steinbeck, or whoever is your idol or hero? We choose not to be. There are hundreds of excuses, it’s too hard, I don’t have time, it’s too late, I’m not talented enough, the children need me, I am too old, and this list goes on too, but the most defeatist one of all is, I can’t. Henry Ford said, “If you think you can, or think you can’t, you are right”. It is your choice to let the greatness out. It is in all of us.

There are obstacles in the path of all great people. Do you think that your hero, your idol got to where he or she is without obstacles? They had things get in the way, and the closer they got to their goal, the more difficult the obstacles, but they knew that obstacles are the things you see when you take your eye off the goal. If you are focused on greatness, obstacles are bumps to be dealt with and move on.

This does not mean you run over the person in front of you, or forget the ones behind you. Mr. Lewis suggest in the above quote that we are helping each other along our individual roads. We are equally responsible for our neighbor’s greatness as we are for ours. I think that is the measure of true greatness, how many we help obtain their goals.

There is greatness in all of us. Dare to let it out.

David Wilson Atwood is a local writer whose human-interest columns offer a unique perspective. He may be contacted, at www.starchasers.us or david@starchasers.us.