Kevin Wade Johnson
2023
Define "Great" "America's the greatest!" "Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time." "William Shakespeare is the greatest writer of the English language." No one can argue with those sentiments, can they? No one can argue with wanting greatness, right? Everyone's in favor, right? You all agree…right? After the most recent (March 2017) Super Bowl, there's been a lot of commentary about the winning quarterback being the greatest ever. But Otto Graham took his team to the championship every year he played, and still has the highest overall winning percentage. Bart Starr has as many championships as Brady (or more, depending how you're counting), and the highest playoff winning percentage. So, one of them is the greatest…right? I wrote about Shakespeare being the greatest near the end of the Decisions section; I think there's general consensus on that, but not everyone agrees. Not everyone agrees on any of these. And the reason is because it depends on how you define "great." Income inequality, social safety nets, military prowess, individual freedoms, degree of regulation, economic strength, education levels…there are a ton of factors to rate a country on. What about morality? How close do its actions hew to moral correctness? And which system of morality? Which you choose will determine how great you think a nation is. Moving on…winning? Role-modeling? Versatility? Longevity? Innovation? Which of those do you think makes a quarterback great? I tend to love how much they innovated, myself, and always favor Johnny Unitas for inventing the two-minute offense. (I also put a lot of strength into role-modeling; given my long career in the Defense Department, it shouldn't surprise you that I think the "greatest" football player of the last few decades was Pat Tillman.) But not everyone values what I do. (That's for sure.) My previous Shakespeare entry gives you an idea of what I think makes for a great writer. But others may value other factors: prolificacy (yes, th
Read this work at the World Public Library (library card needed).