"What is Greatness?"

Greatness is not awarded. It is not given. It cannot be bought, or sold. It is earned.

In itself, greatness is nearly impossible to define, and describing it is no easy feat.

Make no mistake; there is no doubt of its existence.

Each day, we stumble upon it, or it is forced upon us, be it by the achievement of others or the staggering truths of life.

Like many other indefinable emotions and ideas, greatness is determined by the perspective of a person.

It just so happens that when a majority of a population feels as one that greatness is deserved, that it is earned.

Lance Armstrong, to any first world child or adult, represents greatness. However, to what significance is riding a bicycle faster then all others with half the manliness to a child suffering from malnutrition in central Africa?

To that child, greatness resides in the food he eats, or simply does not exist at all.

A good deal of the world looks up to Lance Armstrong, and has awarded him the title of "greatness" as a nearly unanimous feeling, but who does he look up to?

Does he see himself as greatness?

Do heroes idealize themselves?

I should hope not. There is no end to what a human can do in one hundred years of life in this world. This place is not boring. It does not run out of opportunities, or of information to learn.

I think greatness in truth, is achieving everything possible. To obtain what seems beyond reach and in the face of all odds, be it civil rights movement, or a deaf composer writing some of the most well renowned and venerated music ever.

Life’s obstacles are chances at greatness. And overcoming them is the gateway to immortality.