just for thoughts

[trekkanacious]

What makes a great person Bigger Than Life. Alexander the Great, Mother Theresa, Oprah Winfrey, the Pope, George Washington, Ghandi, and MLK? WHAT?!?!

Comments

[work_and_die]

right place - right time.

[vnsplshr]

right actions - right words - with the right audience/witnesses

[missapocalyptic]

Well, in case of the pope it's only the office you might call Bigger Than Life. There have been enough popes Smaller Than Life.

[murphy_willing]

charisma

[the_dense]

yeah, there is such a thing as "charismatic authority." it's a kind of authority not given to an individual through the usual social contructions-- political office, monarchy, business success, all that.

i don't know if i'd say it's as simple as right place, right time, though. i think it's also something in that individual that almost forces you to pay attention.

in the case of people like Mother Theresa, Ghandi, and civil rights leaders, i'd say it's also the novelty of their philosophies. someone who says something new in a persuasive way can get elevated to "larger-than-life" status because of it. good thing, too.