‘He will be great.’ These words are found in the Bible, in Luke 1. Any parent would thrill to have such a prediction made about a baby son. Perhaps you have not achieved greatness, but it is gratifying to think your son or daughter may succeed where you failed.
Kinds of greatness
But what is greatness? In politics, you might think of them becoming Prime Minister, or at least cabinet minister, or (scraping the bottom of the barrel) an MP. In sport, a football star (Premier League, of course); in entertainment, filling stadiums; in science or literature, a Nobel prize winner; in music, a concert pianist; in art, displaying in their own exhibitions. These are the kinds of ambitions we may harbour for our children.
Shakespeare gave the famous advice: ‘Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness and others have greatness thrust upon them.’ We may think of people in public life ‘thrust’ into positions of power and prestige who are manifestly not up to it. We can also think of others who from lowly beginnings have achieved great and enduring things. That’s the kind of greatness we really esteem. But can one be ‘born great’?
