issue241 挤牙膏啊...痛苦

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TOPIC: ISSUE241 - "An individual's greatness cannot be judged objectively by his or her contemporaries; the most objective evaluators of a person's greatness are people who belong to a later time."

Can an individual's greatness be judged objectively by his or her contemporaries? Many people would shake their heads and say no. Although there could be some objective judgments by contemporaries, I agree with the speaker that the most objective evaluators of a person's greatness are people who live afterward.

Admittedly, some people's achievements can be accepted at once. The Nobel Prize is used to reward the best scientists of all aspects in contemporary society. The assertion is too extreme that every individual can not be understood by their time and their society. Newton has been highly praised by his contemporaries since his laws published as well as Einstein.

However, on the one hand, for the limitation of people's knowledge, the great achievements of a person could not be accepted, even worse, could be laughed at. As people in modern society know, Socrates is one of the greatest philosophers in ancient Greek and brought out numerous significant views and thoughts. However, because many of his contemporaries regarded him with suspicion, he was accused and convicted of impiety and moral corruption of the youth of Athens, Greece. With the respects of science, many scientists suffered indifference or distrust to their new theories or great discoveries by their contemporaries, and their importance was recognized after their deaths. For instance, Giordano Bruno believed that the universe is infinite which attested by modern scientists. But, he was not treated as a forerunner in his times, but was imprisoned on charges of blasphemy, immoral conduct, and heresy. Finally, Bruno was burned at the stake because of refusing to recant. Much more fortunate, Louis Pasteur, was laughed by his colleagues when he insisted that appliance used in surgery should be disinfected first. Nevertheless, the vital importance of disinfection is known by almost surgeons in the world now.

On the other hand, for some political purposes, many people were flattered as great persons who made splendid contributions to the contemporary society, however, in fact they were far from great or full of controversy. In order to satisfy their citizens and solidify their domination, many leaders tend to build up great images. The example of Joseph Stalin can support this view. He was respected as a hero without flaws in his time. But now, the truth is revealed that Joseph Stalin also made a plenty of mistakes to his people. Similarly, chairman Mao, once considered as God, are judged more objectively by people who belong to a later time.

Additionally, as effects of a project might be exposed after a long period, the influence of what an individual did may turn out slowly. Such individual achievements could not be noticed right now and would be valued by their next generations. As one example, Li Bing, lived in the Qin dynasty, spent eight years to building the famous Dujiang Dam to conduct water to Chengdu plain. Their project survived more than 1 billion people of Sichuan province. Although the greatness of Li Bing was not highlighted when he was alive, millions and millions offspring have benefited from his contribution from then on.

To sum up, from what discussed above, a safely conclusion can be drew that the most objective evaluators of a person's greatness are next generations. For such reason, Wu Zetian, the first and exclusive female emperor in ancient China, printed nothing on her gravestone and let people afterward to judge her.