Issue 170

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170"The surest indicator of a great nation is not the achievements of its rulers, artists, or scientists, but the general welfare of its entire people."

As the society develops, whether a nation is great or not should be judged by their rulers, artists, and scientist or the people’s welfare has become a hot issue. In my opinion, whether a nation will be a great nation in the future depends on both the achievement of its prominent figures such as its rulers, artists, or scientists, and its general welfare of its entire people.
When a nation does not concern the general welfare of its people and just emphasize the prominent figures such as its ruler, scientist and artists, it would be like a flower with out root.
Abraham Lincoln has mentioned that a government is of the people, by the people and for the people, and so is the nation because the masses are the foundation without which a nation would not develop well in the long run. The Soviet Union provides us with an example. During the cold war, this nation is too eager to show its power to the world, thus it spend countless their tax payer’s money into the field such as military technology, science, and art. The positive result is a large number of renowned scientists and artists’ occurance, however the effect in the long run is negative, that is The Soviet Union develops in a low pace after the cold war. This is not coincidential because when a nation want to use its resource to nourish its prominent figures, the cost would be the general people’s welfare, and when a nation goes too far in this way, it would inevitably impede the development of this nation, especially in the long run.
However, ruler, scientist, and artists, because their great achievement, are conductive. A great ruler can abolish the antiqued regulations and systems. A great scientist can make huge scientific breakthrough which will accelerate a nation’s development and a great artist can do the same. The prominent figures’ are conductive because their contribution will not just affect one person or two, but in a macro way sometimes even the whole society. Gorge Washington, the father of his nation, is an example. He build the continential army that stand bravely in front of the troops of The British Crown and his victory lead to American’s independence. After the independence, he gave up his throne and this action foundamently established the solid democrat foundation which ensures American’s rapid development. On the opposite, however, a leader such as Hitler will bring his nation catastrophic disaster.
Comparing the three, rulers, scientists, and artists, I consider rulers as the most important to a nation’s development because in the world that grows in an international way, scientific discovery and technology can be esaliy copied and the original art work usually can not be understood by the general public and also can be replicated. A great leader’s contribution however, derives from the deep root of a nation such as the nation’s cultural and history, can not be duplicated.
From the above analysis, we may see that the general people’s welfare is like the root of a flower without which a nation will wither in the long run, and the prominent figures’ contributions are like light in the night for a ship in the sea, leading a nation’s development. They are equally important. A smart nation will find the balance and the nation will develop in a rapid and stable way.