"You may not be intrested in war but war is interested in you."Leon Trotsky.
In an article recently published in Newsweek a retired lieutenant general and author of a book on President Ulysses S. Grant asks the question, 'How does a president become a great commander in chief?' This is a paraphrase on the old adage that says, 'Some are born into greatness, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.'
Just because a person is seemingly gifted and almost mandated by his or her extraordinary power does not mean that all of these gifts and promises will be realized. It is sometimes presumed that great leaders accomplish great things by the force of their will but it would be wrong to forget that often even the greatest achievers in history spent years struggling for recognition and acceptance. To reach the top takes perserverance, luck and an almost maniacal dedication to your cause or idea. If you are Saddam Hussein it helps to be born with the personality disorder described as 'malignant narcissism' and to be raised in a culture of violence and abuse. If you are Tiger Woods it helps to be possessed of supreme focus and concentration. Matt Lauer was fired from four other network anchor jobs before joining the Today Show thanks to his relentless perserverance. Clearly, Barak Obama will need to pull out every weapon in his tremendous personal arsenal to achieve greatness and save all of us in the coming years from our economic peril. We anticipate that he will use his gifts to achieve greatness for all of us.
In the meantime, we can all help by being the best people we can be. As stated so poetically in a classic Keanu Reeves movie, "Be excellent to each other."
Posts
