No No No...! This is not an exclamation from me. "...I am the greatest! I am the greatest thing that ever lived..." was Muhammad Ali's proclamation. He said that quite a few times during his extremely illustrious career. Most people are of the opinion that the exclamation was unbecoming of the champion that he was. I, however, respect him only due to his guts to say I am the greatest loudly and confidently in public.
Most great sportsmen, Pele, Maradona, Bradman, etc have said something on those lines. Napolean, Alexander, etc too have gone the Muhammad Ali way. History is replete with such acts - acts which have been called vain, egoistic, over-confident, or even conceited. The commoner would never ever think of proclaiming such a thing in public. He would say "...I would never ever have said thus..." or "...what a thing to say in public...". Perhaps he is of the view that saying something like this, is indicative of lack of modesty, and modesty is always a desirable trait of course. I would say it is his mediocrity that is preventing him from proclaiming such a thing, and not his modesty.
I salute the people who have guts to say I am the greatest in public. Disregarding the apparent lack of morality in these deeds and statements, I think one ought to perceive in them the seeds of supreme self-confidence; a confidence not born out of arrogance, but out of having achieved something truly remarkable. Muhammad Ali had blazed a trail in the annals of boxing. Pele used to score goals for fun. Bradman has an average that I haven't managed to achieve even on computer simulations of Test Cricket.
"...calling yourself the greatest is being egoistic..." or "...by saying you are the greatest, all you are doing is getting attention for yourself, without having done anything... One would rather act than talk..." - I find these ideas pessimistic and even defeatist. These remarks are from those who tend to look at the bleaker side of life all the time. Deep down, all of us think we are the greatest. Then what is it that prevents us from proclaiming it? It is fear - fear of competition, fear of being proven wrong. One thinks what if someone proves that he is greater than me after I say I am the greatest.... I will lose face then...
People feel that diffidence, of a kind that I call pessimism, is a sign of modesty (which is a desirable trait). I think it is mediocrity in the garb of modesty. At the same time, confidently proclaiming such a thing in public is indicative of the absence of fear of competition and of being proven wrong. And that is always an off-spring of supreme prowess, which comes from the pure hard work. It requires mental tenacity to show your left cheek when someone slaps the right one. However, to proclaim such a dictum requires even greater tenacity, possibly the divine power of a Jesus Christ. That is guts - the guts to pontificate.
Let us go to our lore: There was this Arjuna’s lament that he would not kill his uncles and cousins; he had his fear of wrong, his perception of righteousness, his view of duty and his sense of piety. But then, what did it all prompt from the Bhagwan? It was perhaps the greatest piece of literature. All out against a rather obdurate Arjuna, Lord Krishna says: “Look, Arjuna, I am the greatest. What I say is divine ordainment! You are not the judge of what is right or wrong; neither of what constitutes your duty. Fight I say; and fight, you will, for, mine is THE WORD OF GOD”. Similarly the very first and the most powerful of the Ten Commandments says: “I am the Lord, thy God: thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
Let us ask, what if Lord Krishna had said: “See, Arjuna, you should fight these fellows, if you ask me. Anyway, it is left to you”? It would have been a ‘modest’ Krishna alright, but an outright ineffectual one, at that. Then I do not see any reason why Muhammad Ali's proclamation is to be deemed as arrogance. After all, there are no second thoughts about who is the greatest boxer ever. If Ali had never exclaimed thus, he would have been confined to the dustbins of history as a run-of-the-mill champ.
Brash acts, deeds and statements are not always to be despised. They should not be uniformly branded as the outcome of immaturity or immodesty. In fact they should not be the subject of a value-judgment at all. They do not always depict pride or uppishness. More often that not, they could be innate faith in oneself, finding utterance. Surrounding them there could be the fragrance of immense success; and may be, behind them a touch of divinity itself!
I hope a day arrives when I can confidently tell the world I AM THE GREATEST! At the moment, neither am I close to the greatest, nor do I have to the guts to say it. However if that day arrives, I envisage a similar post on someone else's blog with the pic below
Most great sportsmen, Pele, Maradona, Bradman, etc have said something on those lines. Napolean, Alexander, etc too have gone the Muhammad Ali way. History is replete with such acts - acts which have been called vain, egoistic, over-confident, or even conceited. The commoner would never ever think of proclaiming such a thing in public. He would say "...I would never ever have said thus..." or "...what a thing to say in public...". Perhaps he is of the view that saying something like this, is indicative of lack of modesty, and modesty is always a desirable trait of course. I would say it is his mediocrity that is preventing him from proclaiming such a thing, and not his modesty.
I salute the people who have guts to say I am the greatest in public. Disregarding the apparent lack of morality in these deeds and statements, I think one ought to perceive in them the seeds of supreme self-confidence; a confidence not born out of arrogance, but out of having achieved something truly remarkable. Muhammad Ali had blazed a trail in the annals of boxing. Pele used to score goals for fun. Bradman has an average that I haven't managed to achieve even on computer simulations of Test Cricket.
"...calling yourself the greatest is being egoistic..." or "...by saying you are the greatest, all you are doing is getting attention for yourself, without having done anything... One would rather act than talk..." - I find these ideas pessimistic and even defeatist. These remarks are from those who tend to look at the bleaker side of life all the time. Deep down, all of us think we are the greatest. Then what is it that prevents us from proclaiming it? It is fear - fear of competition, fear of being proven wrong. One thinks what if someone proves that he is greater than me after I say I am the greatest.... I will lose face then...
People feel that diffidence, of a kind that I call pessimism, is a sign of modesty (which is a desirable trait). I think it is mediocrity in the garb of modesty. At the same time, confidently proclaiming such a thing in public is indicative of the absence of fear of competition and of being proven wrong. And that is always an off-spring of supreme prowess, which comes from the pure hard work. It requires mental tenacity to show your left cheek when someone slaps the right one. However, to proclaim such a dictum requires even greater tenacity, possibly the divine power of a Jesus Christ. That is guts - the guts to pontificate.
Let us go to our lore: There was this Arjuna’s lament that he would not kill his uncles and cousins; he had his fear of wrong, his perception of righteousness, his view of duty and his sense of piety. But then, what did it all prompt from the Bhagwan? It was perhaps the greatest piece of literature. All out against a rather obdurate Arjuna, Lord Krishna says: “Look, Arjuna, I am the greatest. What I say is divine ordainment! You are not the judge of what is right or wrong; neither of what constitutes your duty. Fight I say; and fight, you will, for, mine is THE WORD OF GOD”. Similarly the very first and the most powerful of the Ten Commandments says: “I am the Lord, thy God: thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
Let us ask, what if Lord Krishna had said: “See, Arjuna, you should fight these fellows, if you ask me. Anyway, it is left to you”? It would have been a ‘modest’ Krishna alright, but an outright ineffectual one, at that. Then I do not see any reason why Muhammad Ali's proclamation is to be deemed as arrogance. After all, there are no second thoughts about who is the greatest boxer ever. If Ali had never exclaimed thus, he would have been confined to the dustbins of history as a run-of-the-mill champ.
Brash acts, deeds and statements are not always to be despised. They should not be uniformly branded as the outcome of immaturity or immodesty. In fact they should not be the subject of a value-judgment at all. They do not always depict pride or uppishness. More often that not, they could be innate faith in oneself, finding utterance. Surrounding them there could be the fragrance of immense success; and may be, behind them a touch of divinity itself!
I hope a day arrives when I can confidently tell the world I AM THE GREATEST! At the moment, neither am I close to the greatest, nor do I have to the guts to say it. However if that day arrives, I envisage a similar post on someone else's blog with the pic below
19 comments:
Heh, you're right about having the ability to admit in public one's extreme prowess. However, I beg to differ on certain counts. Proclaiming one's greatness is acceptable iff the subject in question
a. has achieved previously and has already been titled the greatest by people
b. is in many other ways modest and willing to accept his/her shortcomings and take constructive criticism positively.
To conclude, I believe it totally depends on who is making such a claim and if they are worth it or not.
Interesting. Made me think.
@galadriel
I agree with you. What I just wanted to say is that "not proclaiming your greatness is not modesty". If you dont talk about yourself/praise yourself, I wont call you modest. Thats all I want to portray!
"not proclaiming your greatness is not modesty" may be true. But, one who proclaims so is not modest enough to accept the fact that there *might* be others better than himself and he doesn't yet know them.
@pratibha
Hmmm, yes... The absence of modesty in that person is not because of arrogance though. It is because of confidence, which is an offspring of great hard-work.
@abhi -
It might not be because of arrogance, but ignorance. There can be better ones! :-) Anyways, a thought provoking post.
thanks for writing about my attitude...he he he...on a serious note, i'm impressed with your analysis of this personality and i agree with your opinion on most points...i would like to add some...i think there are 2 types of greatness, one that is hollow and superficial (based on belief alone) and seem to shatter once in a while when run against a challenging situation in life, this obviously isn't real greatness, the other is one which is constantly reinforced with encounters with life's situations and adapts and overcomes with a renewed strength ...its almost like saying 'obstacles makes a man a real man' ...now to be brutally honest about myself, in some aspects i'm like the first and in some others i'm like the second but i'm always home brewing my philosophies and testing it against life and implementing the ones that work...
good blog man, hope to see more thought provoking ones like this one...
Tonnes of wisdom there. Loved the ending!
The day you grow some more beard and are in a position to post a pic of a "man" named Abhiram , I will declare that you have the right to say the words " I am the greatest" :-p
Hi there !!
Interesting post to say the least. I agree that there is nothing wrong in proclaiming you are the greatest if you indeed are...
But, if it comes to me, I will not be able to do it because i don't think i will ever be certain of the fact that I am the best... Call it modesty, call it lack of confidence, fear, insecurity, inability, uncertainty... whatever.
At the same time.. i think true greatness is what is visible without being declared... I mean, someone who feels the need to proclaim his greatness does not seem to be sure of it... no ?
In my opinion one can achieve greatness in the real sense of the word when it shines through and you don't feel the need to proclaim it because you know it is and you don't need anyone to acknowledge or accept it...
So, going by that line of thought, I don't think i will ever be able to say that I am the greatest...
I don't know if i have made enough sense here.... but you did make me think... :-)
PS - As for lord Krishna, I think, no one can assume greatness enough to dictate what should be done by a man...We should all come to our own actions through or own conclusions... And I know you disagree with that line of thought !! But as you said, we have agreed to disagree... :)
At the same time.. i think true greatness is what is visible without being declared... I mean, someone who feels the need to proclaim his greatness does not seem to be sure of it... no ?
Well, I just mean to say; Proclaiming you are great requires courage. I do not mean to say it is good to call yourself the best. I am just saying calling yourself the best is indicative of supreme confidence, which I believe can only come from supreme prowess. Anyway, peace.
There never was anything but peace... :-)
I can see your point and I appreciate that confidence but somewhere I am not very certain of it, simply because i don't understand it...
Suvasini:
Oh well, I am only blogging about it too. I guess we would need to be an Ali to really be able to say it out aloud. Wonder how that would feel like :)
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