Defining Greatness: Different Concepts of What Great Truly Means

When I was a child, I loved to play "hide-and-seek." I loved hiding from my friends and the thrill of being almost found, but not. I loved the thrill of waiting for them to find me in my secret hiding place. And then the sheer joy of outwitting, outrunning or outlasting them. The best part is when they would start shouting for me to go out of my hiding place because they couldn't find me at all and they're just about ready to give up totally.

I realize that now, as an adult, I still love to play hide-and-seek; but it is a hide-and-seek of a different kind. It is the hide-and-seek of values and idealism.

It is fairly easy to lose what we value and what we believe in. You just hide it from people; then gradually you forget about it because there are seemingly more important things to do, and the system or society itself does not encourage the living out of what we believe in. After a while, you're just about ready to give up totally, because then you realize that you have changed and you couldn't go back to who you were.

I know of someone for example, who really valued solitude and reflection before, but has now lost it in the hustle and bustle of his job. When I asked him about it, he said that he started becoming so used to not having space for himself in Law School because of the study schedules; and finally he no longer noticed that he had no more time for solitude and reflection at all. He came to me one day, feeling dejected, confused, discouraged and wishing for the time when he had more time for himself. It is a pity because I used to envy him secretly about his insistence on solitude and reflection.