However, when we leave this temporary existence, everything will become clear. I will understand exactly what I was destined to be. And I will also know your capacity and what you could have been. There are no head starts, no advantages or disadvantages, just percentages of realized potential.
At that point in our existence, there will be individuals who appeared to us as great while we were occupants of the physical world who will shrink dramatically, having only reached 20 percent of their potential. They’ll be pygmies. And there will be many others we once cast into the category of the insignificant, but who are actually towering giants, having reached 85 percent of their potential.
Just as with Moshe and Aharon, it wasn’t the rank or position they held that is the final determinant, but rather their subjective greatness with regard to whom they should have been.
Who I Am for Eternity
This concept has great relevance to us – both positive and negative. It seems to be a natural tendency to compare ourselves to others: “I am smarter than he is. Better than she is. Not as talented as he is…” If my disposition is to favor myself – being kind to me and tough on you – I become inflated, over-confident, and full of myself. If my prejudice is to be harsh on myself, then I will constantly find others superior, and my sense of self will suffer.
The reality is that all of it is irrelevant. It just doesn’t matter. It is true that at the end of my days I will be compared – not to you, but to me. The only question I’ll be asked and the only criterion that will count is how far I took the talents and situation Hashem gave me. How much of me did I become? And that will be the rank and station I will occupy for eternity.