Blogs, Fame & Fortune
The Quest for Greatness
It is a fact that everyone is not a great writer. We are not all great storytellers. This applies to every creative form of expression. We can all certainly practice those arts, but achieving greatness, that’s another matter. Few of us can truly be labeled great writers, artists, musicians, singers, bloggers etc…
What is Greatness?
Now before we begin the “us versus them” battle, or you think this is just snobbery, or perhaps you think this is being too critical and stunting free expression and initiative, let’s just examine this a bit. Is is subjective? Can anything be considered great? Is it great just because someone or a group or multitudes consider it so? Can something be great in one area and terrible in another? Should we even be measuring greatness? Isn’t initiative or the process, or what we learn the most important thing? Can an amateur even measure greatness? Should we reward greatness? Should greatness only be measured in how much we help or aide others? If you struggle and overcome adversity, isn’t that greatness? Raising a family, toiling in the day-to-day struggles of life, isn’t this the measure of greatness?
Great Bloggers?
In Blogs Falling in an Empty Forest, a recent NY Times article by Douglas Quenqua, the author details the disparity between the number of blogs that have been created and those that have been abandoned or not followed. He catalogues those cast aside as “public remnants of a dream – or at least an ambition – unfulfilled.” There are a number of reasons people abandon blogs – lack of interest on the part of the blogger or the public, the blogger being too busy, a quest for anonymity after fame or the spotlight, or others just give up after not making money (their original intent), some even tire of telling their stories.
The 5%
My belief is that the 5% of active blogs, those bloggers continually post to, and those that are read, can be divided into two categories – those bloggers who are truly great, and those bloggers who write for no other reason but self fulfillment. The latter are most likely the true writers, those who love wordsmithing, those who elevate the art beyond their contribution to it.
Where to find Greatness
So, to end my rant, here are some places to find quotes regarding greatness:
http://www.wow4u.com/greatnessquotes/index.html
http://www.motivatingquotes.com/greatness.htm
http://quotationsbook.com/tag/greatness/
http://www.answers.com/topic/greatness
Greatness in the Doing
I also think this quote by Helen Keller is great – “I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble.”
