Under the glittering stage lights, SAG Award for Best Actor in hand, Timothée Chalamet bluntly states, “The truth is… I’m really in pursuit of greatness.” And, the truth is, aren’t we all? From the cutthroat excellence of Kobe Bryant to the eloquent intelligence of RF Kuang, most people’s end goal is to cement their name in the history books, or to at least leave a note in the margins. As Maggie Stiefvater writes in her novel The Raven Boys, “Rags to riches isn’t a story anyone wants to hear until after it’s done.” It’s simple to admire the glamorous end result, tears of frustration and nights without sleep spoken about as things of the past, but the truth is that trying to leave behind a legacy of greatness is futile when you’re unwilling to endure the process.
In an event almost antithetical to Chalamet’s perspective, Elon Musk hoisted a chainsaw over his head as he paraded around the Conservative Political Action Conference and bragged about the federal workforce cuts he was making in February of 2025. His arrogant display of “excellence” is nothing more than a farce without the work ethic to back it up.
Another example of pseudo greatness is artificial intelligence. It’s practically everywhere: summarizing your email, making travel itineraries, and answering the phone. More relevant to high school life, it’s taken over writing essays and doing “research.” Not one day goes by without seeing the website open on someone’s Chromebook, which comes as no surprise since 70% of students routinely use the application. The prevalence could be blamed on laziness, but there’s more to it than that. The exploitation of AI proves effective in cutting corners in the strive toward eminence, slashing the in-between and leaving only an end result.
As I’ve come to learn, creating is a violent process of learning to accept ugly beginnings. As a matter of fact, I was forced to face this truth last year in Art 1 (yes, you read that right). I am by no means gifted at drawing, just ask my friends to show you my hand drawn portrait of Christian Bale, but the class itself taught me the value of bludgeoning my way through a challenge and enjoying it. You can’t ask ChatGPT to draw a disproportionate, oil pastel peach for you, but you can learn to appreciate the rainbow smears on your fingers and the second sheet of paper you’ll get to redo your art. They call it a first draft for a reason: because there will be at least three more after. In a world that expects you to turn in perfect the first time, mastering the art of drafting and redrafting (some might call that resilience) becomes a rarity.
Ultimately, Chalamet’s assertion in his quest to leave behind a meaningful legacy is more than just an end goal. It’s acknowledging the time and effort between now and the end, not just on his part, but also from others who wish to make an impact as well.