People - The Meaning of Greatness

How does one define a great human being? He or she is reasonably intelligent, caring, compassionate, ethical, humorous, well-read and passionate about what they do with their lives. All of them touch and positively affect other people around them.

This is a short definition, and going by it, there probably are millions of people around the world who would qualify. However, you will agree that very few of us personally know many great human beings. There must be some intangible quality then that must be present in a great person that distinguishes them from the multitudes. These intangible qualities vary.

For example, the great Carthaginian general Hannibal was an exceptional military leader and motivator of men. Two hundred years before the birth of Christ, he led a multi-cultural mercenary army on a spectacular march across the Alps in Italy to defeat the much larger Roman armies in battle. This army was not composed of troops from his home country – Carthage (modern-day Tunisia). They were from all over Africa and what is modern-day Spain. So patriotism was not an influencing factor in their love for Hannibal.

Yet he managed to command their loyalty and devotion for sixteen long years, even towards the end, when he was finally overwhelmed by the numerically superior Romans and his army was struck down by disease and attrition. Contrary to much history written at the time, Hannibal was no barbarian. In many cases, recorded history has no relation to the actual events that may have taken place, since it is written by the winners. But that is the story of another blog. Hannibal was an extremely cultured, well-read man and probably the single greatest military genius of all time (apologies to Cyrus the Persian, Alexander the Macedonian and Julius Caesar the Roman).

Mahatma Gandhi was a great man who preached peace instead of war. Albert Einstein was a great man because of his path-breaking discoveries in the field of physics and because of his humility. Nelson Mandela is a great man because he preached reconciliation between the races in South Africa – a very difficult thing because of the history of hatred between blacks and whites in that nation. He forgave those who hated him and wanted him dead. He single-handedly prevented civil war in South Africa in the early 1990s.

One trait that distinguishes the great from the good is that great people keep doing what they love, irrespective of whether they are recognized for it or not. They do not care if the world views them as heroes or not. They are often ridiculed and threatened. They do not care if they look foolish or quixotic at times. They never give up in the face of huge odds that would daunt or discourage the rest of us. One such man is Baba Amte – someone who in my opinion has done as much if not more for the people of the Indian state of Maharashtra than his peers and so-called social activists, most of whom have been conferred many more awards and accolades.

Who is Baba Amte? He is a 93 old year old man who has devoted his life to eradicating leprosy, preaching environmental conservation and teaching rural children to read and write – all of this in the most backward parts of the Indian state of Maharashtra. He has never asked for money, recognition or public adulation. He resists all attempts to deify him. He insists that he is no saint – just an ordinary human being. He has done so much for so many and asked for so little in return. And he has a wonderful, gentle sense of humor to go with all his other qualities. He was recently described as a legend in a self-centred nation. That is about right.

The Dalai Lama is another great man with an infectious sense of humor. At a recent interview, he was asked how it felt to be a god-king and spiritual leader of millions. He threw his head back, laughed whole-heartedly and said “I am an ordinary Buddhist monk”. No false modesty here, just the truth. Incidentally, I am not religious but Buddhism is the one way of life I admire. Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Buddha proclaimed two simple principles:

(1) True liberation of the soul is achieved by relinquishing control not acquiring it – this is contrary to the basic principles preached by all other organized religions, which state that rules and control imposed by a Higher Being should govern our lives. This principle was path-breaking and truly profound for its time, and still is.

(2) Real happiness comes from within, not without.

But I digress. What are the other hallmarks of great people? Many of them have faced unimaginable horrors and seen human nature at its worst. Yet their souls are untarnished, uncorrupted. They are intelligent yet simple, consistent and possess a child-like innocence that cannot be touched. The core of who they are as human beings is not for sale or compromise. That is wonderful to see. What makes the rest of us cynical and jaded only makes them stronger and more committed. They thrive in the face of adversity.

Greatness has nothing to do with how one looks, or whether one is well-educated, wealthy or well-traveled. It has everything to do with being able to consistently empathize with those around you. It has everything to do with bringing out the best in those around you, without actually trying. It is about being able to ignite the spark of divinity and goodness that exists in us all. Great people make us want to be better human beings, consciously or unconsciously.

Many people think they possess these qualities – in reality, very few do.

Great people stand out like beacons during the bad times. Like lighthouses in the days of old, they guide you home when you are lost. There is an old blues song that goes “Nobody knows you when you are down and out”. Well, these people do. I know a couple of such individuals. I will not embarrass them by mentioning their names since they will have visited this blog-spot by now, and some of you will know them. Suffice to say, I have known both of them for many years now. They are my “go-to” people – those I turn to when there is nowhere else to go. For this, and for their exemplary patience, empathy, good humor and talent for telling it like it is, I will be forever in their debt. Being who they are, they do not view it like that and would be genuinely surprised and embarrassed if I ever brought it up. So I won’t.

We tend to confuse great qualities or attributes with greatness. They are not the same. Somebody could be a great scientist or athlete but not be a great human being. I like money as much as the next person, but all rich people are not great human beings. Therefore, greatness is not always visible and not always easy to identify or objectively assess.

As I mentioned at the start of this essay, greatness is an intangible quality. But more people than you think may possess this quality. So watch out because the great walk in our midst.