In The Presence of Greatness

Last night I sat in the presence of greatness. I have spent many years coaching leaders in the art of public speaking. To stand in front of an audience, command or invite their attention and then enthrall them with ideas is an extremely skilled and gifted endeavor. Anyone who has ever given a speech before knows of its nerves, its dry mouth, its verbal stumblings, its pitfalls. Last night I watched it done very well – and to an audience of millions.

Whether you are for Barak Obama or not, this historical moment must go down as a moment of greatness. What is greatness? I’ve thought about it a lot since then and my own homespun definition would be, “the ability to succeed beyond expectations at an extremely important moment in life”. We all delight in these moments of our fellow man and woman because it is a measure of our own capability. It is mankind at its best.

In sports we all marvel at the greatness of Michael Jordan or Joe Montana and most recently the greatness of Michael Phelps. Dwight Eisenhower had such a moment on the night of June 5, 1944. John Kennedy rose to greatness at the Bay of Pigs. In the world of entertainment I have watched supreme moments of greatness in the performances of Barbara Streisand, Elton John and James Taylor.

A few human beings have even lived lives of greatness – Jesus, Guatama Buddha, Mother Teresa – to name three. And then there are the moments by the un-named and unremembered except for their acts – the mother who lifts the car off of her baby, the farmer who works all night to cover his crops before the frost, the child who plays her recital piece with perfection.

But last night I got to sit and watch a man stand in his own greatness and shed great light on all mankind with his endeavor. It simply made me feel better about myself that man could rise to such heights. It made me proud to be an American once again, yes, but more importantly, it made me proud and awed to be a part of mankind. Whether he makes a good president or not, he succeeded beyond expectations in, so far, what may have been the most important moment of his life standing on the pinnacle of world attention.
I sat and studied greatness in action and I am blessed for it.