In the last week, civil rights leaders Benjamin Hooks and Dorothy Heights both died. Their consistent contributions to social justice and progress helped produce the politico-social environment out of which America elected an African-American president. Yet, neither Dr. Hoks nor Dr. Heights were among the household names of civil rights leaders. Dr. Heights especially was all but anonymous to the general public. Dr. Hooks and Dr. Heights were great persons, yet, by contemporary standards of celebrity, they were not very popular.
Hearing the retrospectives on these two great lives, I began wondering: What is the difference between popularity and greatness?
I think that the difference lies in how the popular vs. the great treat our problems.
Popular people tend to point out what's wrong with us. Celebrity tells us that we are not rich enough or pretty enough or gangster enough. Celebrities offer us a way to escape our poverty and ugliness and lameness through fantasy and fandom. It doesn't change anything, but by focusing on their popularity rather than our anonymity, we can forget our "problems" for a while. Popular people point out problems and offer distractions.
But great persons point out problems and offer solutions. Great persons help us to see where we are lacking. They present or help us to formulate a plan for overcoming our issues. And, great persons work with us and for us to actually change our lives. Great persons show us our problems and offer solutions.
Had Dr. Hooks and Dr. Heights spent their lives simply railing loudly against the system they might have been more well-known. Instead they committed their energies to laboring to improve the system. They mentored serveral generations without demanding a shout-out from every protege. They worked behind the scenes at times when they were entitled to a place at center stage. They demonstrated the principle expressed by the greatest agent of social change in history.
In the gospel of Mark, chapter 9, verse 35, Jesus said, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
If you or I would achieve greatness, we must bandon the pursuit of popularity, and choose the path of servanthood. Instead of trying to prove how much the massess need us, we must work to meet the needs of the masses and to empower them to meet their own needs. In a sense, great persons labor to render themselves unnecessary.
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