Good Man vs. a Great man

Posted on April 29th, 2005 by Jeremy.
Categories: Rant.

Yesterday I had a chat with a good friend of mine. He explained a situation in which he was going through a lot of trouble for a particular client.


Yesterday I had a chat with a good friend of mine. He explained a situation in which he was going through a lot of trouble for a particular client. His other workers exclaimed that because he had done so much more above and beyond what he’d normally do that he should in turn attach a monetary figure to that work and bump up the bill at the end of the day.

He wouldn’t do it.

He had told these people that he’d do a certain job for a certain figure. Though they ran him through the ringer, and he was justified in charging a little more, he stuck to his word and didn’t.

In my estimation that’s the difference between a good man and a great man.

I also now a man that had a wife whom he loved. She came down with a mental disability. He could have, and been justified in, divorced her, put her in medical care and moved on. But he loved her till the day he died. It was his wife, and the vows “for better or worse” were not idly said.

That’s the difference between a good man and a great man.

It’s when you put your principles over the personalities you come in contact with in your daily life. It’s the ability to work for a cause that is greater than yourself. It’s when you lay down your life for another….all marks of Great Men.

You can lay back, relax, grow old, have kids and be a good, good man. But a great man, he sacrifices something - time, money, blood, sweat… for an idea, a principle.

I wish there were more Great Men in the world.

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