Choices and Greatness

Dear Grace,

            I competed in a singing competition last weekend down at BYU, and guess what? I took third place in my division! Haha, okay, it wasn’t that big of a deal, I guess, but I did get thirty dollars out of it, and at least I placed! (Out of what I’m guessing was like the forty or something people in my division) And I also just felt like typing enthusiastically too, so blah. So a couple of things that have been on my mind as of late. I just finished a book from my college writing class (which Mrs. Gardner teaches) that really touched me.

The entire book is about making a difference in the world. Throughout the book an object is passed through the hands of great people throughout history, and on the object there is an inscription that is made reference to several times, By your hand, the people shall live. The book tells the stories of the people who received this object throughout history that saved hundreds or thousands of lives or changed the world in some way, and how their choices and decisions made all the difference. Famous people such as Schindler and Constantine, to less well-known people, such as Alfred Vanderbilt and George Washington Carver. At the very end of the book, we learn the full translation of the inscription, and I have to admit, I cried when I read it.

I copied it down and titled it from a quote in the book.

“Here now is your true inheritance…”

I made you different from the others.

On the planet earth, there has never been one like

you…and there never will be again.

Your spirit, your thoughts and feelings, your ability

to reason—all exist in no one else.

Your eyes are a masterpiece, incomparable, and

windows to a soul that is also uniquely yours

A single strand of your hair has been created especially

for you. Of the multitudes who have come before

you and the multitudes who may follow, not one of them

duplicates the formula with which I made you.

I made you different from the others.

The blood that flows through your veins flows through

the heart of one whom I have chosen. The rarities that make

you one of a kind, my child, are no mere accident or quirk

of fate.

I made you different in order that you might make a

difference.

You have been created with the ability to change the

world. Every single choice you make…every single action

you take…matters. But remember, the converse is also

true. Every choice you do not make…every action you do

not take…matters just as much!

Your actions cannot be hoarded, saved for later, or used

selectively. By your hand, millions of lives will be altered,

caught up in a chain of events begun by you this very day.

But the opposite is true as well. Millions of lives are also

altered, caught up in an entirely different chain of

events—if you choose to wait.

You possess the power of choice. Free will. You have

been given everything you need to act, but the choice is

yours alone. And beginning this very moment, you will

Choose wisely.

Now go, and never feel inadequate again. Do not

dwell in thoughts of insignificance or wander aimlessly,

lost, like a sheep.

You are powerful. You matter. And you have been found.

You are my choice.

                                             Your Father

This is going straight onto my wall, so I can read it every morning. The more I read and learn from Mrs. Gardner, the more I’m convinced that it was divine intervention that brought me to her this year. She saved me from myself, and my feelings of being inadequate and worthless. She is one of the most Christlike people I’ve ever met. She has been through so much in her life, everything of which amazes me, and because of those unbelievable trials she has gone through, she has become so loving and non-judgmental of people. When I look at her, I see how Christ can be so forgiving of sin, and so understanding of pain. He has been through everything we ever have and ever will go through, and so he knows exactly how we’re feeling, and what we’re struggling with, and so he doesn’t judge us. He only loves us and beckons us to come to higher ground. I think I will miss Mrs. Gardner most of all next year when I’m gone.

I will miss her laughs and her smiles and her ever-present kindness and love for those around her. I only pray that I will one day be more like her. She is the hero that I look up to.

Funny enough, after reading that book, we were assigned a public speaking assignment, where we had to write a speech based on a quote we were given at random. My quote was, There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet. – William F. Halsey

            And this is what I came up with.

            William Shakespeare wrote: “Be not afraid of greatness: some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” What is it that makes us great? What is it that we do or say in this life that makes others look to us? Is it hard work and sacrifice, is it our social standpoint, our courage, how much we accomplish? No.  What makes us great is what we are given, and what we choose to do with it.

            We often look at ourselves, and then look at the people in the world who have saved thousands of lives or made millions of dollars, or inspired people across the globe and wonder, how can I ever become as great as them? How can I ever hope to achieve what they did? In truth, we can’t look at what others have already done. We must return to what we have, and what we have the power to do. We are all ordinary, but we have the power to achieve greatness in the simplest of ways.

Edgar Watson Howe said: “A boy doesn't have to go to war to be a hero; he can say he doesn't like pie when he sees there isn't enough to go around.” We don’t have to rescue a family and their dog from a burning building or donate millions to charity to be great. A true hero does what he can, he doesn’t seek for glory or riches. A true hero gives his life over to something of greater importance in the world.

Not only do we achieve greatness by what we do, it is also in the trials that we overcome and how we respond to them. In the great things, such as those suffering through the horrors of war, or those languishing in the agonizing fight against cancer, to the simple things, such as making it through one more day of a terrible job, to bearing a simple injustice; we live each day, growing stronger in our pain and our adversity. It is the greatness inside of each, ordinary one of us, that blooms and grows in what we do each day, and what we choose to do. We are all ordinary, but we are all different. Andy Andrews wrote: “I made you different in order that you might make a difference. You have been created with the ability to change the world. Every single choice you make…every single action you take…matters.”

We are all different. Some of us are runners, and some of us are painters. Some of us are athletes, and some of us are writers. Some of us are doctors, and some of us are teachers. Some of us are leaders, and some of us are followers. What matters is not what we are good at. What matters is how we use our unique gifts to change the world, one small act at a time. We are not great. We are ordinary. What truly matters is what we do.

That’s all for today. I love you, and I miss you.

                                                                 Love Always,

                                                                                    Katie Jo