issue36 [OB小组] 第18次作业 伟大与时代

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TOPIC: ISSUE36 - "The greatness ofindividuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by theircontemporaries."
WORDS: 816          TIME: 00:42:24+15:00          DATE: 2007-7-30 15:51:56

In this issue, the author states that thedescents other than the contemporaries of individuals should decide theirgreatness. As far as I am concerned, I agree with the author insofar as thosewho live after them have a relatively objective and thorough perspective towardtheir precedents. Nevertheless, in some occasions, only the contemporaries areable to disclose the greatness of individuals.

To begin with, the descents of individualscan assess their precedents more comprehensively and objectively. Thecontemporaries could be blocked by limited knowledge, or affected by currentnotions and trends. That can be reflected in the great individuals in the realmof politics, arts and science.  

In the realm of politics, the greatness ofthose famous politicians or leaders can be distorted to some extend and mostlybe over appraised. Considering they were influential to the average folks,being worshipped for their sagacious leadership or brilliant policies, they caneasily be apotheosized by their contemporaries. For example, the first chairmanof PRC Maozedong---a great politician and leader is highly worshipped by almosteveryone during the 30 years when he ruled the country. No one would evenconsider anything he said incorrect, letting alone criticize him. However, eventhis great leader made huge contributions to not only china but all the peoplewho love peace by leading Chinese people fighting against Japanese fascists, hestill made a critical mistake in the late period of his tenure which is toinitiate the cultural revolution (focus on fighting against capitalism yetdesert developing economy ). Notwithstanding, his contemporaries regarded thispolicy wise and necessary and the perfect image of Chairman Mao was stillintact because of the tremendous contributions he made and thus he was alwaysright. Until almost 20 years later when the descents reviewed the alterationshappened in china in the past a few years, people started to realize what afatal mistake Mao made and it severely traumatized the economic development inchina. Nowadays, though people consider Chairman Mao great because he broughtpeace and stabilization to this country but also flawy because he made a deadlydecision as well.

In the realm of arts and science, thecontemporaries of individuals could be limited by the knowledge and notions atthat time and thus made underestimating judgments mostly. Nevertheless, thedescents may assess the greatness of their precedents more thoroughly sincetheir knowledge has been enlarged and they are able to make comparisons betweenpeople and their contributions in a larger span of time. For instance, thegenius painter---Van Gogh was not appraised vastly by his contemporaries sincethe style of expressionism that Van Gogh perused was not favored back then.Till several years after his death, his painting were gradually be applauded bypeople and regarded as masterpieces. For another example, the greatestscientist Einstein was merely regarded one of the top physicists at the time helived while in fact his theory---the theory of relativity was the majorbreakthrough of the study of physics or even the entire science. Countlesssequential researches and studies continued on the basis of his theory in thenext 80 years after he passed away. His theory explore the hidden facets of thetruth, enabling man kind to be closer to the truth and to utilize the knowledgehence construct a better world. In the threshold of 21st century, the“people magazine” chose him as the greatest man in the last century.

Therefore, to decide the greatness ofindividuals, people who live after them are able to assess in a morecomprehensive and objective way comparing to their contemporaries.

However, in some occasions, onlycontemporaries can decide the greatness of individuals because some prominentmoments can only be appreciated by person, without personal participants onecan hardly tell the greatness buried in these flashes. To support this point,we should look no further than a football game. Consider a great player scoredthe critical points in the last few minutes. This moment may appear innewspaper or documents in the form of cold words several years after. And thescore may be just one of the many points this player gained during his careerto the descents. Whereas only the contemporaries or even people who watch thegame are able to feel the greatness of scoring the critical points and the joyand honor the player brought to the audiences and the team. In sum, some greatnessdoes not require the objective or thorough perspective to assess. Thesubjective and visceral impulses are more powerful in deciding the greatness ofindividuals.

To conclude, I agree with the author thatunder most circumstances descents may hold a more explicit and impartial viewtoward their precedents. But we can not deny some greatness can only beappreciated by subjective and personal experiences. In that case,contemporaries are much more suitable than descents to decide the greatness ofindividuals.