What makes a person great?

Is it a history of important ancestors?

Does it come from having a lot of money and educational advantages

Do the choices your parents make for you determine your future greatness: faith, education, good manners?

Is it being part of a family: doing chores, getting good grades, learning how to get along when you don’t agree with family members?

Perhaps it is a decision you make: to join the military, or making a political statement, joining a group of people protesting against what someone believes is unfair?

Is it the college you attend, the job you work, wishes or dreams you have?

Maybe it comes from the influence of a teacher you had growing up who said they believed in you.

Overcoming adversity with a smile? Or fighting through with faith and strength and determination?

Standing up for what you believe, as the colonists did who signed the declaration of Independence or the inventors who tried over and over to succeed?

Does success make you great? 

So many writers and artists were not considered great until years after their death

Are soldiers great who fight for their country? Does it depend on which country they are fighting for? Does a soldier fight because he is drafted, kills under orders? Is an American soldier braver than a Russian or Japanese or German soldier because his country won the war?

Is it making the most of what you’ve got, your brains or muscles or inherited money: does this make you great?

How do you treat people whom you consider lower than you are: due to status or age or lack of education?

Could it result from being genuine and having true character when people surround you or when you’re alone?

Does success at sports make you great when you’re just using natural talent?

Are you great because you consider yourself great? 

Is greatness determined by how others view you?

Perhaps the only One who can determine greatness is the Creator of all.

Think on these things.