I know this is semi philosophical but it is also a general case. What do you perceive as greatness? In a general sense, greatness in Martial Arts, Music, Life in general? This came to my mind because I watch loads of videos on youtube of supposedly "great" people. For example "The great so and so, worked with such legends as ... bunch of names you don't know and received a whole bunch of awards" Then you see this person with three drums doing the same style of roll again and again on one durm, then the next, then two of them... then back to one drum. 5 minutes later their solo ends and that's it. It's the sort of thing you could train a monkey to do. Ditto with other things, sports, dance etc. "The great" "The spectacular..." Does anyone else find themselves having the same experience? What do you consider "Greatness" to entail.
I see great people as those who transcend their 'thing'. Bruce Lee was great because he transcended martial arts movies; you dont have to have seen one of his films to know who he is etc.
I know Hiroji would have a thing or two to say about this... http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84587
I have seen may marvelous shihan what I found "great" about them was that they were extra ORDINARY men. regards koyo
I think Sensei Kanazawa had it right when he talked about people calling him 'Shihan'. He said it was something only other people could confer upon him. He could not call himself that because it was disingenuous and egotistical. And I think in the end, it comes down to how you define ordinary and 'great'. I think it's a very personal thing. I agree with the count that people throw the term about... but I don't know if I've ever met a 'great' person in the true sense of the word. I know people who I think are 'great' guys or whatever, and there are people who I consider to be 'great' (Nye Bevan for example), but in reality what does this really mean?
