The Measure Of Greatness

There are people who have lived and died and have long since been forgotten, with no record of their existence, yet still the echoes of their greatness are heard, the ripples of the impact they’ve made reverberate through time. Even the mightiest of waves can be started by a tiny gust of wind.  
 
Some people are born to be great; some have greatness thrust upon them. But which is more worthy of its title? Someone who seeks greatness and does indeed become recognized as great? Someone who is capable of greatness but doesn’t seek it, becoming recognized as great only by circumstance? Or the one who is never recognized as great, never seeks it, but whose greatness emanates through everyday activities and seemingly insignificant small acts of kindness, people who change the world one good deed at a time, who need no thanks or recognition?  
 
How can you measure greatness? By the number of people who know your name, the number of people who follow you, the power you wield? Or by the difference you make, the number of people’s lives you improve? Who judges greatness? History!  History will remember the grand displays, the speakers of a movement; the leaders of a cause, the martyrs, the magnificent overstated acts of greatness that sometimes overshadow the individual themselves. Not the everyday heroes, not empathy for your enemy or the kindness of a stranger.  
 
Although history may not remember, time never forgets.