What's that?

What is the difference between a good person and a great person? Probably quite a few things. But for me, one of the key differences is responsibility. A great person takes responsibility for their own lives and their own decisions. Generally, for a great person, if their life is shit they look no further than themselves for why.

Now, that is an enormous generalization. Mandela probably never blamed himself for being in prison for two decades. Then again, after having read his autobiography, though he was angry and upset about being imprisoned, I did not get the impression that he considered his life to be shit. In fact all clues point to the opposite. He studied by correspondence, he built a community in the prison, he continued to fight.

What I've heard of Martin Luther King Jr. suggests that he often despaired in his fight, that he was often scared and feared that his efforts were useless. And yet he continued on. He always had his faith in the group around him, in himself, and in his god. I would have entered into a ten round knockout fight with him on his faith in god, but I respect the hell out of him for drawing such power from it.

Now do you catch my drift? Great people take responsibility. And they fuck up. And they own it.

Example: Jon Stewart (yes, I am invoking a comedian as a great person) entered into an extremely long debate with Cliff May, president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, on our country's use of torture in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. During the course of this heated discussion Cliff May asked Jon Stewart, point blank, whether or not he thought president Truman was a war criminal for dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There was a pause, and then Jon said that yes, he did think that.

A few episodes later, Jon began the show by saying, "That was a stupid thing to say." He took responsibility for his words, did not blame the comment on May for having badgered him to that point, and simply apologized.

Guess what got me thinking about all this. Rocky Balboa. During the movie, Sly gets into an argument with his son after his son accuses him of 'casting a big shadow' and of being the reason his life sucks. This is Rocky's response (abbreviated):

[...] Then the time come for you to be your own man and take on the world, and you did. But somewhere along the line, you changed. You stopped being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you're no good. And when things got hard, you started looking for something to blame, like a big shadow. Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. And not you, not me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that.

Though the writing is a little less than subtle, sometimes its nice to be hit over the head with a message so clear. And the delivery is pretty fucking cool. It's hard to get chills from Sylvester Stallone's acting. And yet...

The point I am lamely attempting to make is this: This doesn't feel like a moment of crisis to me. Maybe it isn't one. But it is indubitable that there is too much work to be done for the good people not to be great. If we prove unequal to the challenges facing us, if we shirk our responsibility and blame a failing economy or the generations that came before us, if we locate our strength anywhere but inside ourselves, we will fail just as many good people have before us.