“History”, says Carlyle “is the biography of great men”. No one is great who is great only in one’s life time. The real test of greatness is the page of history. We commend and commemorate the names of those heroic souls whose sole and sacred aim in life was to help, guide and inspire their fellows. Their lives were directed at bringing peace and comfort to the suffering human beings. They lived in their deeds and not in years. They died but in their death they were immortalized. Jose Marti had rightly said, “Men are like stars. Some generate their own light while others reflect the brilliance that they receive.” They are the pathfinders and show others the way even when chips are down. They get going when going gets tough. Their brilliance in mind comes out to innovate and find solutions to the most challenging problems. Their inventions and discoveries have added far greater value to the color and action of this beautiful universe. They always had the guts and the grit to know the way, show the way and go the way while others were lost in the middle of nowhere. These luminaries include scientists, sages, statesmen, poets, politicians, painters, musicians and sportsmen who created history by their rare acts of courage, innovation and conviction, against odds and obstacles. What is greatness? Is it an acquired position or divine gift? How can greatness be attained, if at all? These are all relevant and equally important questions. The greatest playwright of his times, William Shakespeare has beautifully dilated on the subject in his own unique way. “Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” A very tiny minority is endowed with an inherent natural talent and they make their way to glory as if they were destined to be crowned with it. All great leaders and top runners on the road to life share so much in common. They are self- motivated and disciplined. They work beyond limits and are always eager to accept challenging assignments at will But the vast majority in the hall of fame and on the wall of glory are those who come from nowhere. They struggle hard and cover their distance inch by inch, fighting against odds and surmounting the obstacles on the way by sheer determination, indomitable will to succeed and an ever insatiable thirst to reach their goals. With an unfailing hope and unflinching faith, they rise to the occasion and make their dreams a living reality. They never look for an ideal opportunity and suitable circumstances. They, instead, create their own circumstances by dint of ceaseless endeavors to ensure success. They dream big, believe in the beauty of their dreams and do all within their control to achieve their desired destiny. They may falter, fumble or fail but they rise again and seize every moment to do better than before. While some find greatness on their way just by stroke of good fortunes. They have greatness just thrust upon themselves and simply cannot believe that fortunes have chosen to smile at them even when they do not seem to deserve it either. That is destiny. Real greatness is earned and achieved. All great leaders and top runners on the road to life share so much in common. They are self- motivated and disciplined. They work beyond limits and are always eager to accept challenging assignments at will. They are ever ready to go an extra mile not for any material gain but to attain moral high ground. Their conduct is an example for many around. They carry themselves with rare grace and in style. These top achievers work from 5.00 am to 9.00 and, thus, they work for 16 hours a day. They are like the beacons of light and their lives are the lamp posts. They choose to work while others doze off in their cozy beds. They stay away from negativity and pessimism as they love to see light at the end of the tunnel. Hence, their positive outlook of life becomes their singular strength with which they find a way even where others get lost. No is a word unknown to their dictionary and- yes I can – is their core value and an inherent strength. They in the words of Robert Frost prefer to take a road least travelled by and that does make the real difference. They are generally the first in an undiscovered land like Columbus in America and then many follow them as the dust settles. They lead the way when others opt to follow. Like winners, leaders too stand alone. History remembers them as heroes. Then the next to them are achievers who work from 9.00 am to 5.00. They work for someone else. They fear change and are afraid to take even minimal risks. They love status quo and are prisoners of their comfort zones. They lack drive and suffer from an acute dearth of dream or ambition. They build castles of sand and then let them fall as the winds blow. They are slaves of complacency and criminally under estimate their ability to change or grow. They are rather happy with whatever little they have achieved. They call it contentment wherein their complacency is conveniently camouflaged. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba.com, has rightly remarked that you can't get rich as long as you work for others. When you have people working for you, only then you get rich. They underplay their potential to grow, progress and change. They are like tortoise and move at snail’s pace. They do the dirty and dangerous work, carry the loads like the beasts of burden and thus end up living on the margins. But the last and the least important in the social strata are known as laggards who are no bodies. They sleep at their own calendar and wake up at their sweet will. They keep no diary and have no planned meetings awaiting their kind attendance. They are their own masters yet their own worst enemies. They miserably squander their time, talent and true potential as do they criminally under utilize their human capital. They are the scum of the earth and a burden on the planet. They are dead alive. They neither live with dignity nor do they ever die in grace. They beg, borrow or steel to make both ends meet. Unnoticed they live and thus unlamented do they die. Their existence is always under threat and threaten the existence of others around. Their weak moral fiber often leads to their downfall and disgrace. They choose to glorify their low and mean acts and take rare pride in their dubious distinctions. The teeming millions across the globe are the laggards whom we may know as no bodies. Complaining generally about the failing systems and the lopsided deals, they have their own stories to tell. They have their own clappers among whom they are applauded as heroes, princes without crown. Unfortunately, though! “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings”, said William Shakespeare. To accomplish great things, we must live as if we were never going to die. Life is a flat and even table, a clean slate to write our own destiny with our conscious decisions. It is governed by divinely ordained laws and principles where output is equal to input, barring a few exceptions. Every rule has an exception but an exception is never the rule. Some may complain to have been served with the cup of life in a far lesser measure than they think they deserve. But, perhaps they could have learnt to first deserve then desire. Ironically, they would never admit their own failures or weaknesses. Instead, they have cleverly crafted excuses and smartly designed scapegoats. They are best at cribbing, crying foul or walking away with self-contradictory blame games. So in the ultimate analysis, we can safely conclude that life on the planet earth is to be carefully planned, diligently executed and perfectly appreciated, by all means possible. It is the most beautiful gift of Allah Almighty and its every moment must be lived to its limits best. Let us learn to pick a leaf from the books of the heroic souls whose lives are a living testimony to the divine justice and fair play. No pain, no gain. Henry Longfellow has beautifully explained it all in his stanza: “Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time.”