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Greatness

Characters in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" play a vicious trick on poor Malvolio.  They forge a letter, which they pretend to be from Olivia, the mourning sister, in which "she" confesses her secret love for him.  The cleverly drafted letter causes Malvolio to behave in strange ways that lead those not in on the joke to believe that he has gone mad.  The letter also contains a famous line, understood as serious by persons not familiar with the plot (and, of course, by Malvolio), though intended by the pranksters to be part of the devastating practical joke.  The line:  "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."  (Modern audiences may miss the sexual innuendo that Shakespeare intended in the last of the three clauses.)

The world has recently lost some "great" people.  None of them was born great (though one was born into a "great" family), and none had greatness thrust upon them.  Rather, they all achieved greatness through their own efforts and perseverance.  Greatness, in its true sense, comes only from personal achievement.  That achievement can take many forms, including artistic achievement (Michael Jackson), political accomplishments (Ted Kennedy), and business success (Richard Egan), to name just a few.  But greatness also has another dimension:  the greatness achieved through compassion, humility, and love.  It is clear from the public tributes to these men that, while great accomplishments placed them on the world stage, in the final analysis it was the selfless acts, the kindnesses to others, the commitment to charitable causes, and the joy of life that were most admired, and that are most likely to be missed.  The good news is that these are qualities within every person's grasp -- those who are rich and those who are poor, the talented and the not-so-talented, the strong and the weak, the successful and the unsuccessful.  And if humility, selflessness and kindness are true measures of greatness, are they not qualities to which we each should aspire?

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