Serious? You decide.

It is a curious thing how greatness is defined. I have never met anyone who questioned the greatness of Julius Caesar, for instance. He was an individual who took charge of the time he lived in and dominated it. Many of his actions were...well, of questionable morality. Yet he is remembered best as a great leader and for the manner of his death.
Goerge Washington has long been held up as the Father of our Country even though he lost most of the battles he fought in, constantly was in retreat, had a somewhat troubled period of time prior to becoming President, and most people know very little of his life outside the Revolution. In fact, I am idly curious how much (or little) people know of his surveying work and how it affected the future growth of the U.S.
Andrew Jackson was immensely popular. Conventional wisdom has held it that he could have had a third Presidential term simply by running for the office. Unquestionably he was effective in adding to the territory of the United States. He also managed this in very questionable, patently illegal ways. Yet even with my trepidation regarding his actions, I recognize his greatness in what he accomplished.
The same could be said of Rockefeller, Capone, FDR, and others. All performed many actions I despised, yet all also were effective in what they were trying to do.
One book I am currently reading involves 100 Native Americans who shaped U.S. history. One of them is Ira Hays. You might, of course, know his name from Iwo Jima. He was one of the 6 men who raised the flag in one of the most famous pictures ever.
He was one of the three men who raised that flag to return to the U.S. The war department detailed him to raise war bonds despite his requests to return to the battle lines. You see, to the army one man raising millions of dollars was worth far more than 1 man pulling a trigger on the front line.
People loved Ira Hayes. Even after the war he was often bought drinks and asked to tell his story. He was not, however, able to find a job. After all, he was an Indian...Yeah, you probably knew that, too, because the U.S. made a point of it.
Well, unfortunately alcohol was a demon Ira Hayes could not deal with. His record showed over 50 arrests for alcohol-fueled minor crimes. He was not welcome in the white man's world but he was not part of the reservation system either.
Hayes raised the flag at 23 years old and died when he froze to death after falling into a drainage ditch while drunk. He was only 33 years old. Was he a great man or simply someone who was in the right place at the right time?
There was a time he was a great man. That time was when he was on Iwo Jima fighting with and for his buddies. That time was when he was on the bond trail doing what he was ordered but beging to be allowed to return to the front where the people HE said were the heroes were still fighting, killing and dying. He was a great man when he was trying to do what he believed to be the right thing.
That, I think, is what separates the great men and women from the people who are thought to be great. Great people have a sense of right and wrong. They do what they believe is right regardless of the personal cost. Hayes could have floated out the war on the rather cushy job of going to dinners and celebrations to raise money but he was willing to go back to the danger and discomfort of the battle front because he believed it was the right thing to do.
Contrast that with General Crook who talked about how fighting certain bands of Native Americans would be wrong...yet did it anyway. This contrasted oddly with his courageous stand on behalf of Standing Bear. Was Crook a great man or a horrible man?
I tend to believe neither...he was a man caught in a difficult spot where there was no right answer....or if there was, he never found it.
Some of the people I think are the greatest people I know are people whom I frequently disagree with. They have convictions and they ave the courage to stand for those convictions regardless of personal consequences.
I think they are great because they have a firm foundation for those convictions. These are not random ideas they seized out of thin air and held onto without evidence. No, these are well thought out, researched beliefs. I don't have to agree with that to get on board with it.
As I told one person yesterday, I am firmly anti-Democrat...and anti-Republican...and anti-Green party...but I would vote for a McCain-Dean or Dean-McCain ticket in a heartbeat because these are men who, like Horton, meant what they said and said what they meant and stand behind it 100 percent.
I have joked for years about running a campaign for office. I in no way think I am capable of the things some of the people mentioned in this bit of randomness, but I am capable of one thing...researching a given issue and determining what I believe is the right thing to do for the people. Maybe I should. Then again, maybe I should just go golfing.