I like to drink (alcohol of couse) – all the time actually. However I don’t get to do it often. I have a family and as a responsible father who sets an example for his kids, I have to restrain myself. Why do I like to drink? I am not the kind who gets drunk and start becoming rowdy and all. I drink to get high, not drunk. When I am high, I become sober… and more at peace. I find a level of peace and I start to self reflect more when I am high. I will totally agree if I am branded oxymoronic. I like to drink and I am no connaisseur, although I drink with that pretext. I wish not to drink, but I do it now and again – why?

I have not taken drugs, but if you have I guess you will know what I am not talking about. We all want something to give a  sense of ‘purpose’. A moment to be ‘free’… a moment to be what we want to be… a moment to float in the stillness of time. I am in no way advocating drinking or drugs – in fact I totally dispice it. Then again, there is a part of me which just want to live in a subconscious world. A part of me that is weak and falls slave, chained up and confined in the cell that my mind puts me in. I am slave to myself – not to say I have no control over it, but I crave it… I enjoy it. My ‘choice’ of not wanting it does not change the fact that I am still a slave – of my choosing… of my craving. I never really got addicted to any particular evil, even though I tried ‘diligently’, just to experience what is that addiction that destroys a person and his/her life and family in the process. Maybe I am just blessed to be immune to addiction of the ‘dark’ kind, but that does not mean I have completely overcome it. To not allow oneself to be conquered and to have full control over oneself are two different things – one is a state of ‘constant’ and the other a state of ‘completeness’.

Much is expected of those who put themselves on a higher moral pedestal. What is more important is for each one of us to evaluate ourselves with high expectations – to look at ourselves and expect nothing short of greatness. No one is perfect – but each and every one of us strive to be perfect – to overcome our own demons, whichever size or shape they come in. Overcoming our demons is not easy – in fact it is the probably the one thing that is so integrated with us that we might feel lost without it. Such is the power of that leech. That is why greatness is never easy – that is why is called greatness… not good… not very good… not excellent… but greatness!

The biggest hurdle we need to go through to reach a higher state of being, is not out there, but in us. It knows our weakness and it feeds on that. Greatness is never easy. It is not about being capable of greatness, it is about the willingness to be great. Many have told me “Choice does not mean anything. I can choose to be a President but I can never be.” – well that is not choice. Let me share a true story of a famous leader as I have heard it with some enhancements.

The teacher in the class asked the students what they want to be when they grow up. There were some wanting to be a doctors, engineers, lawyers, teachers and so on. One kid stood up and said he wanted to be a Prime Minister. The teacher jokingly asked ‘There can be only one (sounds like ‘Highlander’) Prime Minister in this whole country, it is almost impossible. Maybe you might want to be something else’ – to which the student replied ‘There is only one person in this class who wanted to be a Prime Minister’.

You see, we become what we believe in. The believe or the seed of the desire for greatness does not exist in all. The fact that we believe is the step towards greatness.

Greatness is about choice. We choose that. Let’s us take the first step forward.