Reflected Greatness And Actual Greatness

When I was in school, two English teachers got together and started acting in a very snobbish and nasty ways. These women were confused. That you have read the collected works of William Shakespeare does not mean that you have written the collected works of William Shakespeare.

I have spent extended periods of time in both the former Soviet Union and the United States. I came across in both populations to what I call the superpower syndrome. Many people there believe that just because they live in great countries they are great themselves. Most of them are no such thing. In fact I expect to see greater greatness at individual level in places that Donald Trump has gently called the shithole countries. That is because, living as they do in shithole countries, they have to really be something in order to get anywhere at all; and we will therefore see greater qualities at individual level than we would in countries that are great.

I had a girlfriend who had been married to the right-hand man of a Hindu swami. His followers acted as if they were better than everyone else because they had had contact with this man. Most of them were not great at all. They were just lucky. They had had contact with a great man. They made the mistake of thinking that they were great themselves for that reason. They were not.

So it is important to make the distinction between actual greatness and reflected greatness. Once again, the fact that you have had the attention of somebody great does not mean that you are great yourself. Place the credit where the credit is actually due. And do not make the error of mistaking the attention of somebody great for your own greatness.