Gedolim are multi-faceted, complex individuals. Titans of Torah and Tzidkus, each with their own unique personality and life story. There is so much we can and should learn from them. One of my pet peeves [why do people keep peeves as pets??] is when people take one or two details or stories about the Gadol and narrowly characterize him in that light.
Let me give examples: One great Rosh Yeshiva, a masmid beyond belief, a teacher of thousands, a Baal Mechadesh of rare dimensions. A certain educator likes to use him as an example of a person who wore short sleeved shirts [seemingly to justify his own preference for such attire]. So this educator's students know nothing more about this Rosh Yeshiva other than that he wore short sleeved shirts [which, by the way, almost no big Rav in our times does] which they heard again and again.
Another famous RY known only for his many pairs of tzitzis and the fact that he still felt pain when he heard that the Yankees [or Dodgers - whatever it was] lost. A lifetime of learning and teaching Torah and all the "oilam" knows about him are these two peculiarities [li-havdil bein Tzitzis and the Yankees].
Third example: A popular on line lecturer loves to remind people that a certain famous RY and Gaon ztz"l [really a Gaon!] attended the opera in his youth [and had season tickets???]. The other thing he likes saying is that this same Gadol held the same anti Zionist views as the Satmar Rebbe [which I find hard to believe for various reasons]. A lifetime of learning, teaching, writing, leading and personal Avodas Hashem and all people hear about him is his love for opera and Satmar ideology. A sham[e].
Mussar Haskel: The best way to learn about a Gadol is to study his sfarim and to view his life in a broad context. Not just to hear about the type of shirt he wore or his affinity for hearing overweight woman scream [which I would presume, if true, he later regretted. Such as we ALL have things we did in our youth that we later regret].
