I just spent four days in the most remarkable of cities with my eight-year-old grand daughter, and I came away with a sense of wonder, awe, smallness and gratitude for the sacrifices made by others.

Washington, D.C. is a place of monuments and tributes. A place of archives. A place of power and genius.

To be sure, it is also a place of greed and incompetence and lost opportunities. But, from what I see as results, the good has far outweighed the bad in our history.

Riding the train back to CT, I found myself pondering on what it is that makes greatness. As the ancient Bard once wrote, “Some men are born great. Some achieve greatness. Others have greatness thrust upon them.” But what is greatness? What are the ingredients? What are its origins?

Like everything else in our realm of existence, greatness is relative, I suppose, but to my way of thinking, greatness is that inner quality that makes some of us strive for what is right against all odds with no regard for personal gain.

Now, that begs the question, "What is 'right'?" Rather than argue semantics, I would simply state that, like pornography, we cannot define “right”, but we know it when we see it.

FDR was right. So was Harry S. Truman. So was Abraham Lincoln. These were all men who knew what they had to do and did it, despite incredible opposition and with no personal gain.

FDR benefited nothing personally from his New Deal plans to put America back to work. Lincoln agonized over decisions made to hold the union together. Harry S. fought with himself over dropping “The Bomb” in attempt to end the war with Japan swiftly to save American lives. He also went up against corruption and the Ku Klux Klan in his early days simply because it was the right thing to do. (It scared the crap out of him, and it almost cost him his life, but it was the right thing to do.)

What were their “agendas”? What was in it for them?

Harry S. left office poorer than when he entered it. FDR died of congestive heart failure before his fourth term was completed. Lincoln was assassinated by a deranged zealot’s bullet. They all did what they thought was best for our nation, sometimes at great peril to themselves.

Greatness comes not from desiring to create enemies, but from not being deterred when there is a possibility of creating them. It comes not from desiring to unpopular, but from not being deterred when there is a possibility that unpopularity may occur. Greatness does not come as a result of high scores on opinion polls.

It is my belief, for instance, that Jimmy Carter followed his heart and did what was right when he returned the Panama Canal. He took a huge amount of ridicule for doing it, and he still does. (Just listen to Rush Limbaugh.) But he did what he believed was right.

I believe that Joe Lieberman is also a courageous politician who follows his heart when making decisions, even though I disagree with him strongly, I have to admire his convictions.

In my mind, greatness has a shepherding aspect to it. It is the ability to care about the faceless others who are sharing the planet. To care for those who need care the most - the weak, the suffering, the innocent victims of the world such as millions of Americans who were out of work during the Great Depression, or those of different skin color who were forced to live under the shackles of slavery.

This courageous caring can be done by great politicians, such as Ghandi, Mandella, and a smattering of others.

Too often I only remember those in power who are there to serve only themselves and their millionaire cohorts.

I needed this trip to D.C. to remind me of the others. The ones about whom I talked to my grand daughter. The ones who made this nation great by having the courage to be great themselves.