My Thoughts on Greatness vs. Success

Christine Harding Starts on Greatness vs. Success February 7, 2008

Dr. Cornell West, while in an interview with Tavis Smiley pontificated about the concept “success vs. greatness.” In his interview, he mentioned his beliefs on greatness vs. success. West believes in a concept called “habitual vision greatness,” meaning that you constantly believe that you would not settle for mediocrity, but you would constantly strive for success, but, not only success but the idea of greatness. To me, actually succeeding is important, but similar to Cornel West; I believe that actually having greatness is the key to a happy life. West also believes that you living are connected to you actually giving back to your society, either through your knowledge, or actual physical work you do.

Everybody has a duty in life, and that is to educate yourself, and also to educate others. You should not actually hoard all of your education to yourself, because then you really don’t have a purpose on this Earth then. The purpose of living is to actually help yourself, but also help others. West also mentions that people today are actually worrying about getting over, instead of actually taking the time to become a morally better person. If we were to all rush through life, without exploring the finer aspects of life, then, our lives would be truly useless, because we wouldn’t drive ourselves to accomplish something. Becoming a morally better person is better than actually better than to live a life where you are successful, because you could actually take more out of life. West also pontificated on how our society is narcissistic, because they steady focus on commodities, instead of success, and morally and spiritually building yourself up to become a better person. He stated that in order to actually succeed and have greatness in your life, you have to be morally, spiritually, and politically prepare yourself, or your life would be a catastrophe. You may not notice it right away, but as time goes on, you would see how your life is truly miserable, because you were not prepared for success, and also you stopped at mediocrity, instead of striving for greatness. Success is worldly, meaning that it is in open feeling that you can easily catch and keep, so don’t let that feeling go, or your life is meaningless.