I learned today that Sir Edmund Hillary, known to many as the first known to have reached the top of Mount Everest, has died at the age of 88.
I can't say that I have any particular long standing fascination with Hillary or explorers in general, but I do have to respect someone who faced such an imposing obstacle and overcame it to accomplish a goal. The hour or so of additional reading I did this morning on his philanthropic projects and other accomplishments has shown me that he was no one trick pony, and increased my respect for him to a greater level.
One of the more interesting things I read was a post by Grumpus over at When Things Get Dark. Their comment about Hillary and "the death of awesome." is right on:
"I just don't see many of that calibre in the public eye these days. I know there are excellent people out there, but their light can't surface through the sludge of know-nothing know-it-alls, talking heads and "People"-grade celebrities that riddle the surface."This really struck me, and not just in relation to people. I seem to be seeing a lot about mediocrity over the last couple of days, whether it is dumbing down your communications, Letterman's Presidential Comparisons, or The Death of Desktop Publishing and I wonder what happened to the pursuit of excellence or "awesome", or better yet, the expectation of excellence. When did we start accepting "It's good enough" as a valid response.
There will be a lot more written and said about Hillary over the next couple of days and I encourage you to watch and pay attention, I know I will. I hope it inspires all of us to awesomeness.
SB
SB