In celebration of Martin Luther King Day, I have taken an extract from a sermon Dr. King preached that is one of my favorites.

“If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness. By giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.”

During this pandemic, we have all seen hearts full of grace and souls generated by love. Dr. King’s definition of greatness aligns with so many of my nursing colleagues who choose Servant Leadership as their go-to philosophy.