Greatness

was talking with my team leader not too long ago after I sent him the link to the video I've embedded below, and we started to have a discussion about what would be considered great in 40 years.

I've been thinking a lot about that conversation over the past few weeks, and I started to wonder what was considered great 40 years ago, and what will be considered great in another 40 years.

In the 1960's do you know what it meant to have a million dollars? You were set for life. Today what is a million dollars? It's no where near enough to retire on. What's a million dollars going to be in 40 years? Almost nothing. It might be a mortgage payment. There's no way to know right now.

In 1969 the United States became the first nation to land on the moon. Who actually remembers the last time we landed on the moon? In fact, how many of us would even remember the last NASA launch if the astronauts hadn't shown up intoxicated? What will it take to actually grasp the attention of the nation in forty years? What will instill us with a sense of pride and patriotism again? Mars? Lunar colonization? As a Realtor®, I would love to be the first to sell you a home on the moon, but will it be considered great?

In 1961 the home run race captured the attention of a nation. Marris hit an astounding 61 home runs that year. In 1998 the same scenario, only McGuire hit 70. In 1960 the Yankees hit 196 home runs as a team, in 1997 the Mariners hit 264. What will be considered amazing and great in 40 years? 300? 320? Will our expectations be so high that 350 will barely make us stand up and take notice of the situation?

My dad has hundreds of albums from the 1960's. Albums that are years old. The only album I ever owned and listened too was The Chipmunks Christmas Album. In the 1960's albums were amazing. Since then we have cycled through 8-tracks, cassettes, c.d.s, and now MP3s. The same with video. In the 60's there wasn't a cheap, easy accessible way to watch movies at home. Since I've been gracing this world with my presence I have owned a Beta player, a VCR, a DVD player, and have downloaded movies straight to my TV. Even in all my genius and knowledge, I can't even begin to fathom what new way of media there will be to listen to music or watch movies.

In the 1960's it was the standard that we could call our pal across town by phone and get together in a short amount of time, we could also call across the country and talk to someone 3000 miles away instantly. We could write a letter and have it get there in about a week. Now if I want to talk to one of my Keller Williams Family in California, I have massive choices to make. Do I call and what if they are in a meeting? Should I email them? What if there email doesn't go to there blackberry? I could text them, but they might not be IN. I'm sure the point has been made. In forty years how many ways of instant communication will we have?

Watch this video and let me know what you think. I'd like to thank the fine people at Glumbert.com for allowing me to embed it on my site here.