Becoming A Person Of Greatness—
Persuasive Speech 3/24/2015 11:46:00 AM
July twenty-fourth, 1997, Ten fifty-nine P.M. the improbable happened. A
baby boy was born, not that the event in itself was uncommon. Hundreds of
baby boys are born each year. But it is unlikely that such baby as this had
ever been born and lived to tell the tale. An almost completely torn umbilical
chord, profuse bleeding, and half a dozen doctors predicting his death made
the birth of Luke Josiah Damkoehler as far as probability is concerned, a
miracle. That is my story. As a souvenir of my near death experience I have
on my left hand only one thumb. The first and most drawn out challenge was
the elementary skill of tying my own shoes. The amount of hours it took me
to learn this basic task is both humorous and incredibly frustrating. Nothing
that required two hands ever came easy for me. It left me with a battle to
fight. A voice to fight. A voice inside my head that spoke the words you will
never become a person of greatness. Human inadequacies
Before we begin to understand what it means to become a person of
greatness, before we even define it, we need to have fundamental
understanding of who we are and how we fit into this massive sea of
something we call humanity. And to truly look inward, first, we have to look
out . . . I mean way, way out in our search for the origin of persons of
greatness. . . we’re going to start with a little astronomy lesson today.
Several years ago in a presentation called Astronomical Grace, a man named
Louie Giglio told the story of the space craft called Voyager that the U.S.
launched in 1977 on a one way mission to take pictures and images of
planets an our own solar system. 13 years later, Valentine’s Day 1990,
scientists sent a message to Voyager and said before you go any further,
turn around and take one last picture of all the planets you’ve visited.
The story is incredible. On that Valentine’s Day, Voyager was about 3.7
Billion miles away from earth, traveling 40,000 MPH away from the Sun.
Unable to capture the landscape all at once it had to take a succession of 60
images. It sent each 640,000 pixel image back to the earth on tiny dot at a
time. From 3.7 Billion miles away from the earth it took each pixel 5.5 hours
to reach home. It took over a month for image to come back, and when it
finally did, it completely blew away astronomers everywhere. The picture is
known as “the pale blue dot.” It’s the image of a tiny little dot . . . barely
visible it’s so small. Like the tiniest star in the sky, you have to strain to see
it. What was is it? A picture of earth from 3.7 billion miles away. I just
happened to be caught in a ray of light. An astronomer of that day remarked
– “everyone that has ever lived their lives, lived them out on that tiny pale
blue dot,” that he called, “a mite of dust suspended in a sunbeam” When I
first saw it, a shrinking feeling came over me and I knew in that moment
that his life was a tiny little blip on the radar of history, a vapor, a mist, an
infinitesimal little life.
You must realize how small you are to finally see how big you are! Ralph
Waldo Emerson said, “A great man is always willing to be little.” But I say I
great man is inevitably little. Inside every one of us is a person destined for
greatness. God has placed you HERE . . . you’re in the game. And you
have just as much right to win at it as anyone else! So many people think
that a life of greatness is a birth right; something that can only be lived by a
select few. After all, only one person can be president, only a few people
are kings. Even at this tournament only a few can make it to the next
round.
Well let me intentionally burst your bubble. – You may never be president,
but you can be presidential. You will never be a king, but you can be
regal. You may never be a formal leader, but you can be one who yields
great influence. You may never be popular or a recognizable face, but you
can be a person who changes the face of the world around you.
An old proverb says, “look at a person who is excellent in their ways, they
will not serve before common men, they will serve before Kings.”
You have the right blood, the perfect family tree and are qualified to live a
life of greatness.
EVERYONE in this room has the potential for greatness. Greatness is not
born in the right circumstances its born in understanding that all
circumstances are the right ones. Everyone is destined for greatness.
But how do we get there? What are the attributes and actions of persons of
greatness? Let’s begin by defining what we mean when we use the word
“greatness” Everybody in this room has in mind people that they know
personally, heard about, read about, or seen in various media that have
struck you as someone great. They could be a living relative, an ancestor,
an historical figure. Think of one or two people that stand out in your mind
as people of greatness. And list the attributes that come to your mind about
what makes them “great” How many of you have people on your list that
some people might consider just common or ordinary? Many of you!
True greatness is defined and measured not by the level of your
achievement, but by the level of lasting positive influence you bear in the
lives of those that come into contact with you. Greatness is NOT defined by
the level of recognition or power that you receive in life. George Bernard
Shaw said, “Forget about likes and dislikes. They are of no consequence.
Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness but it is greatness.”
Think about our headlines in recent months . . . The world is looking for men
and women of greatness to lead them. Nations are looking for people of
