What Is True Greatness? | Howard W. Hunter | 1987

Click "Show more" to find the links to the speech and podcasts.

Howard W. Hunter discusses the difference between worldly greatness and spiritual greatness. He then suggests ways we can become spiritually great.

This speech was given on February 10, 1987.

Read the speech here:
speeches.byu.edu/talks/howard-w-hunter/true-greatness/

Learn more about the author:
speeches.byu.edu/speakers/howard-w-hunter/

More BYU Speeches here:
speeches.byu.edu/

Subscribe to BYU Speeches:
www.youtube.com/c/byuspeeches/

Follow BYU Speeches:

Podcasts: speeches.byu.edu/podcasts/
Facebook: facebook.com/byuspeeches/
Instagram: instagram.com/byuspeeches/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/byuspeeches/
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/byuspeeches/

© Brigham Young University. All rights reserved.

"I am happy to be with you today. Over the years the Brethren have had dreams and visions regarding Brigham Young University, yet such hopes and prophetic utterances are not self-executing. They are fulfilled by righteous and devoted people who make the prophecies come true. Your generation now shares in this responsibility. Part of your privilege while you are at BYU is not only to become acquainted with some of humanity’s noblest knowledge and achievements, but to participate in personal and spiritual development in this ideal setting.

President David O. McKay once observed that

“the university is not a dictionary, a dispensary, nor is it a department store. It is more than a storehouse of knowledge and more than a community of scholars. The University life is essentially an exercise in thinking, preparing, and living.” . . . It must concern itself with not only the dispensing of facts, but with the preparation of its students to take their place in society as thinking, thoughtful, and sensitive individuals who . . . come here dedicated to love of God, pursuit of truth, and service to mankind. [Spencer W. Kimball, “The Second Century of Brigham Young University,” Speeches of the Year, 1975(Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1976), p. 250]

For many of you, these years invested at BYU will be among the most challenging and rigorous, yet rewarding of your life. Many of you presently are happy and enjoying the opportunities given to you. Some of you are even ready for your next exam.

Yet I am concerned that some among us today are undoubtedly unhappy. Some of us feel we are falling short of our expected ideals. I have particular concern for those who have lived righteously, but think—because they haven’t achieved in the world or in the Church what others have achieved—that they have failed. Each of us desires to achieve a measure of greatness in this life. And why shouldn’t we? As someone once noted, there is within each of us a giant struggling with celestial homesickness.

Realizing who we are and what we may become assures us that with God nothing really is impossible. From the time we learn that Jesus wants us for a Sunbeam until we learn more fully the basic principles of the gospel, we are taught to strive for perfection. It is not new to us then to talk of the importance of achievement. The difficulty arises when inflated expectations of the world alter our definition of greatness.

What is true greatness? What is it that makes a person great?

The World’s Heroes

We live in a world that seems to worship its own kind of greatness and produce its own kind of heroes. A U.S. News and World Report survey of young people ages 18 through 24 revealed that today’s youth prefer the “strong, go-it-alone, conquer-against-all-odds individuals,” and clearly seek to pattern their lives after the glamorous and “boundlessly rich.” During the 1950s, heroes included Winston Churchill, missionary Albert Schweitzer, President Harry Truman, Queen Elizabeth II, and Helen Keller, the blind and deaf writer-lecturer. These were figures who either helped shape history or were noted for inspiring sacrifice. Today among the top ten heroes are Clint Eastwood, Eddie Murphy, and Jane Fonda (see “Heroes Are Back,” U.S. News and World Report, April 22, 1985, pp. 44–48). That brief list suggests something of a shift in our attitudes.

It’s true that most of the world’s heroes don’t last very long in the public mind, but, nevertheless, there is never a lack of champions and great achievers. We hear almost daily of athletes breaking records; scientists inventing marvelous new devices, machines, and processes; and doctors saving lives in new ways. We are constantly being exposed to exceptionally gifted musicians and entertainers, also to the work of unusually talented artists, architects, and builders. Magazines, billboards, and television commercials bombard us with pictures of individuals with perfect teeth and flawless features, wearing stylish clothes, and doing whatever it is that successful people do..."