Great, Greater, Greatest

There seems to be a tendency to erroneously categorize people as great or superstars when they are actually average. I find that occurs quite a bit in sports. I also use to hear this word used frequently by a manager I knew in the Post Office. Everytime I would encounter this individual and ask him how he was doing, he would always respond, “great.” I would always walk away from the encounter muttering to myself, “Damn, how could he say he feels great when he looks like crap?” I don’t know what I would do if he said he felt miserable but I couldn’t buy the notion that he felt great all the time. The best I could do was to say, I felt OK, but most times I would answer, not too bad. This came from my Italian side of the brain. When someone would ask, Come stai? (How are you?), I would respond, Non c’e malo (not too bad).

In many ways, I feel that we’ve devalued the meaning of the word great by throwing it around so easily. Inflation has set in even on this adjective just like it has with money. The word great to me as a kid was like a one hundred dollar bill – you didn’t see too many around. Now it seems they’re a dime a dozen. Greatness isn’t achieved in a few years but over the course of a lifetime. Money doesn’t make you great – I don’t consider Donald Trump a great man – he’s wealthy, but not great. Some of the worst role models are people with money.

In my lifetime there are only a handful of people that I know about that I would consider as being great. There are probably many others in this category that we know very little about, ordinary people doing extraordinary things without any fanfare. There’s one extraordinary woman who lived in my lifetime that I will never forget. The adjective great or greatest doesn’t do her justice because within a matter of years she will be elevated to sainthood. If she was still alive today, I would wish her a happy birthday and thank her for being a true inspiration. Mother Teresa, I wish that I accomplish one tenth of one percent that you accomplished.

She was born into poverty and died extremely rich in the love she received from all the unwanted, unloved and uncared for that she took in. One day she picked up a man from the gutter. His body was covered with worms. She brought him to her house, a missionary she started. The man did not curse, nor blame anyone. He just said, “I’ve lived like an animal in the street, but I’m going to die like an angel, loved and cared for!” After the three hours it took to clean him, the man looked up with such a radiant face and said, “Sister, I’m going home to God.” She always treated everyone as if she was encountering Jesus.
Mother Teresa became famous and when journalists came to talk to her, she wouldn't give them an interview unless they spent a day working among the poor. When the pope gave her a white Lincoln Continental limousine, she sold it without ever taking a ride in it. And when she won the Nobel Peace Prize, she asked the committee to skip the awards dinner and give the cost of the dinner, (about $7,000) to the poor.
In her book, Mother Teresa, No Greater Love, she says’ “There is a natural conscience in every human being to know right from wrong. I deal with thousands who are Christians and non-Christians, and you can see such a conscience at work in their lives, drawing them to God. In everybody there is a tremendous hunger for God. If everyone were capable of discovering the image of God in their neighbors, do you think that we would still need tanks and generals?