Achieving Greatness?

I work for the English department at BYU-Idaho and yesterday the English department put on their annual Pre-professional Conference. In this conference, we invite authors from various places to come and share their writing experiences from the real world. I, as an English department secretary, was put in charge of creating the posters and programs, scheduling rooms, and making sure all the loose ends were tied up. It was quite an experience. I am not an English major, but I was able to attend some of the events that were offered.

David Kirby, a poet and professor at Florida State University, came and spoke a number of different times. I was only able to hear the last of his speeches. He began to talk about how great writers were mostly insane. Then he asked the question what is the definition of great? Great literature is first accepted by the elite, and then widely popularized by the public. If one of these things is missing, the literature is not accepted. There is some part in everyone that recognizes “greatness.” There is no right or wrong. In every genre of life there is greatness.

As I sat there listening to this speech, it dawned on me that I have the potential to achieve greatness. It’s so interesting to realize that some people in history became great because we made them great. They did something that was accepted by the elite, and then became popular. However, that’s not always the case. Van Gogh’s work wasn’t famous until after his death. The same goes for J.S. Bach with his music. There are great people and things created in this world that may never be called “great” because it is unknown. I love this concept. In the people we meet and places we go every day we can find greatness.