issue 36 myth 第五次 ppmmss

ppmmssUID: 205288

There is a growing public concern over the assertion that whether or not the greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries. The speaker claims so, while I insist that both coming generation and their contemporaries could make the judge from their special backgrounds and respective angles. In other words, it is not be decided by those who live after them, but also by the people experiencing the same period.

On the one hand, what is easy and direct for contemporaries is that they could possess a self contact or even involved into the whole event. This first-hand information is valuable for us, in most cases, to address any conclusion of the great individual. After all, any of the judgment should be relied on the facts and evidences, which lend enough strong and sufficient support. Taken the example, the most famous and outstanding work of Confucius—Analects is coming from the recording of his followers and students on his regular talking. The praise and appreciate could easily found in this series of books according to their detail description and comments. Living and traveling with Confucius for such a long period, they can make a clear definition to him as the greatest ideologist and educator for his creative ideology to that age. Therefore, it is presumptuous for the claim that only those who live after them could decide the greatness of individual.

On the other hand, since they hold the comparatively dissimilar point to the authorities or not lend themselves to the government and some other reasons, the great would suffer special degree of misfortune and not be recognized. The essence of politics determine that they admire what they need, while strike down what they needn’t, which would absolutely reverse estimate to each person. Einstein can be considered as the best example for this phenomenon. The Nazi Germany equates him as the evil Judah for him anti-war proclaim and uncooperative attitude to research of A-bomb, whereas he received addressed respectfully honorific title in the land of freedom—United States. What we can learn from this affair is that standpoint share an immeasurable influence in the final verdict on one’s contribution. It is the localization and misleading that individual’s greatness is judged during the same age.

Doubtlessly, it is divided into two parts that the later generation rules out the remarkableness of these masters to the extended history and whole society. For the coming ones, all of these marvelous events occurred years ago, it is past and history for them. What they could know that just from some records, comments or even some modern media technologies. These second-hand evidences sometimes could not give the way to commenters and critics to understand the entire historical background and determined particulars. Nevertheless, it is not said that later comers offer false statement of events, although they still would be informed the authors’ attitude from their articles. As the saying goes, “Every cloud has its silver lines.”, consequently, both merits and demerits are there for coming ones.

In sum, direct information and personal standpoint is the advantage and disadvantage for contemporizes, in the other way around, to whom live after them, it becomes the demerits and merit. There is a time and place for contemporizes, and there is also a time and place for coming generations. Comprehensive judgment of same period and later ones is the only way which is suitable and crucial.