Greatness has lost its greatness.It is not a word I want to use any longer.

Back in the days, greatness used to mean something.

Back in the days, greatness was not used so loosely.

No one was called great unless they did something that the World could not ignore.

No one was called great until they left something the World could explore.  

To be great meant you had influence.

You were great because you had presence.

Alexander the Great; Jesus Christ of Nazareth; The Prophet Mohammed; These are men whose influence the World felt long after they were gone. Their lives helped shape the World as we have come to know it.

History tells of many other great people whose influence and acts amongst other men could not be ignored. They may not have been perfect men and women but they stood to be counted.

Martin Luther King Jnr, El Hajj Malik El Shabbazz, Kwame Nkrumah,  Gani Fawehinmi but to mention a few etc

And we really do not have to look into the past to recognise greatness. We are fortunate to still have living amongst us today some great men and women whose lives generations unborn will celebrate.

These great people, whether living or dead, earned the right to be called great by the kind of lives they lived.

Some laid down their lives so that many might live; others laid down many lives so their ideologies and beliefs could live.

This is why I cannot understand why this generation has so belittled such a …great word

We seem accursed with a need to outdo one another in adjectives.

We no longer speak English; we converse in superlatives.

Now I do not know what words like ‘amazing’, ‘fantastic’ really mean anymore. 

Words like awesome which, when I heard for the first time, was used to describe how great GOD is, is now used to describe how yummy a hotdog feels

The other day, a friend of mine said she met this ‘great’ guy and she couldn’t stop talking about how he had a great smile, spoke in a great way, walked like a King, and how he did so many ‘mundane’ things, well, great . A few days after, this ‘great’ guy had become a ‘great jerk’. She realised that everything she called ‘great’ about him was all part of a routine aimed at tapping her ‘great ass’.

To hear the word great attached to words such as ass, breasts and sometimes even to a beautiful word such as smile, is an abuse of the word.

Greatness is what everyone should aspire to even if not everyone will achieve. Sometimes, greatness even lies in trying, I have come to see.

Greatness, I have also come to realize, is often about sacrifice; placing others needs before yours and making their lives better.

Mother Theresa and Mama Ekundayo, these women did not lead any troupe to battle, but they battled and won the fight for human dignity and with that touched generations yet unborn.

So excuse me if I do not bellow with excitement when you point out those ‘great legs’ or if I am mellow when you talk about ‘what a great party’ you had’, I am only mourning the death of greatness and several other words that used to mean something

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I will not hate

I will not break

I will not suffocate

I will make lemonade!

I will meditate

I will create

I will participate

I will be great!

So keep throwing those lemons

And I will keep making lemonade

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