The difference between good and great.

I'm thinking about climate change and the fact that we had more than enough time to start a revolution. There were people in my youth that were sounding the alarms, but something always seemed to stop the momentum. Of course, there was plenty standing in everybody's way. Mostly because there was always a group of people who never felt the urgency of the situation. It's still that way, but it's not until recent that I've seen something promising break our way. I mean, besides the fact that the signs of climate change are everywhere.

What has changed are the people who will lead us out of this mess. For comparison, I do remember one teacher in college that was an expert in the field. But it was one student that pointed out the reason he fell short from being a great teacher. I always saw her as his protege, but she used him to point out the difference between good and great. She said he was a good teacher. His speeches were passionate, even when he talked about population control. But what made him less than great was the fact that he had four children.

When someone was finally brave enough to ask him how he rationalized saying one thing while doing another he said that he felt that he was bringing children into the world that would be raised in a household that will be ready for the future.

And that, my friend said. Was the difference between good and great.

I understand her point better today, as a parent, than I did as a young adult. No parent can predict how their children will turn out. The harder you try to indoctrinate them to believe anything, the more they tend to rebel. So really, it's a crap shoot. You do your best but nothing is guaranteed. So it was a weak response from a teacher, who was good, but not great.

I didn't think again about that conversation until I learned about Greta Thunberg. Especially when she hitched a sailboat ride to cross an ocean to make it to a climate change conference. That's when I realized that she didn't fly planes because of carbon emissions. I realized then that she's the first one to convince me that she's hit the "great" platitude. She is someone who is willing to live her convictions. So I fully support all the nominations that go her way.

Damn, though. We left so much shit for her generation to have to work through. Didn't we?