Greatness, Glory, or humility

Every summer there are many movies that just seem to get my blood pumping. They always seem to have the perfect hero and they always seem to obtain some kind of greatness that just seems so perfect.

Recently I read back through the last two Harry Potter books because apparently I am 12 again. In my defense they really are good books and J.K. Rowling did a phenomenal job with the entire series. I have always been a sucker for the epic strories of good versus evil like Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings to name a few. Often times it seems that I read/watch such material to vicariously fulfill some kind of greatness missing in my own life.

With this in mind, I have been pondering the definition and qualities of greatness. And the only thing that is for certain is greatness is definitely decided on a case by case basis. Obviously you and I will never have a chance to defeat You Know Who, because unfortunately we are not a part of the wizarding community. Most likely any professional sports greatness is dead since I am 22 and no teams have come a calling yet. So if the obvious war hero, sports hero, and wizarding great are all ruled out... what does that leave a 5 foot 7, 190 pound 22 year old to work with.

Here is my second delimna. Say we haven't considered the other problems I am up against yet and we just consider this one issue. Can one obtain greatness while actually trying to obtain greatness or does it just happen. And if it just happens am I able to put myslef in a situation that allows me to be great, or even if I do is will it automatically overwrite any chance I had at greatness anyways.

After I considered these two monumentals obstacles I began to just think about what I would consider great. Is the man who cares for his family any less great than any epic hero. The epic hero may be remembered, but is that greatness. And does greatness even have to be above and beyond what the average person would do or could even be. Does everyone have the chance at greatness or are we born into the role.

I love what J.K Rowling did with Harry Potter. She didn't give Harry the choice, he had to be the one, and yet Harry felt that anyone in his situation would have made the same decision. So does this make Harry Potter more or less great.

I am aware that the Harry Potter ramblings make little sense except to me but that's ok.

This is the only thing that I think I have come up with so far. Greatness is a life choice to be good. Public greatness happens when we are presented with a situation where we allow the good in us to shine. When this happens it becomes something epic, but what about the greatness that is overshadowed everyday with all the noise and selfishness. Is it any less great?

I'll continue this in the next couple days after I am able to put things down better and probably no at 3 in the morning.