The word "greatness" is often associated with the likes of power, control, and status. To be great means acquiring a high position in society; to be great means being recognized for the things that you’ve accomplished; to be great means being known by many across the entire world. Those are the things that the world keeps preaching to us about, but is that what it really means to be great?

I do agree that people who do great things should be rewarded for it, but the result of their actions should not be the definition of greatness itself. Being great, I believe, means impacting those around you, not for the sake of self-interest, but out of passion, kindness, and inspiration. When we focus more on our purpose and serving others, the ‘greatness’ that we feel will be much more satisfying than what we receive from simply climbing society’s ladder.

As a music artist and poet, I find myself constantly caught up in the road to fame; to try and appeal to the masses instead of focusing on my message and what I want to offer to the world. Greatness to me is most often defined by my success and popularity; seeing little to no progress towards those things make me feel incompetent for what I am doing. But I know that being great is more than just getting a bunch of fans and receiving attention -- it’s about encouraging and relating to people with my art. Gaining recognition is important for any artist who’s trying to spread their message, but when that becomes the basis for being great, I think our motives need to change.

Everyone starts somewhere; we are not born nor chosen into greatness. You look at someone like Martin Luther King Jr. who went from being a regular boy from Atlanta, Georgia, to being the leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. I think everyone has the potential to become great; we just need to remind ourselves that we are not living for society’s approval, but for our cause, our purpose, and our mission.

I know there are some people who believe that they have to reach a certain status in society in order to be great, when in fact we can be great right now within our own communities. We don’t have to be deemed as important by society in order to make a difference, to pursue the purpose in our lives, to innovate and create.

Our time on this earth is limited, and chasing after what society labels as greatness would only be a devastation towards my purpose. I want to be great within my home, my communities, and potentially the world before me. I don’t want to leave this Earth thinking about all the things that I’ve attained, but rather everything that I was able to give. That, to me, is what I consider greatness.