0910G[North America Flying]Issue36 by FarseeR

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TOPIC: ISSUE36 - "The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries."
WORDS: 503          TIME: 1:30:28          DATE: 2009/5/28 22:23:18

The speaker claims that a person's greatness can be recognized only by people who live after them, not by his/her contemporaries. The statement is mostly sounded, for in some cases, as in scientific areas, arts and business areas , the value of their works can eventually be fairly judged by the later tenderizations, while in other areas, like sports and fashion industry , contemporaries play an extremely important role to make  the decision. Hence, the speaker's point of view is justness in most aspects, while it needs more consideration.

Admittedly, when is  comes to research in the natural sciences, greatness must be tested over time before it can be confirmed. For their, the researcher or scientist , thoughts or theories are so far ahead of the contemporaries that people at that time can hardly make an objective assessment to their work or even react scientists’ knowledge system as the fundamental challenges of their own world by resistance or persecution. Taking  the Bruno for example. Bruno, , the Italian philosopher, astronomer, mathematician, the student of Copernicus, asserted the theories that  the infinite universe and the multiplicity of worlds, which even cannot  be accepted by Kepler, who is  the most distinguished scientist in that era. And lastly, Bruno was burned to death by the Roman Catholic Church. But nowadays, Bruno is regarded as a rejection of religious thought hero and fight for scientific truth no matter how hard it is. That's exactly what the speaker states.

Additionally, we do need more time to identify artistic greatness, whether in music, paintings or literatures.  The reason is very simple: different ages' criterion varies from each other and the works' idea that artists insist may not be comprehended by the current society. Like Von Gogh, the Dutch painter, one of the greatest painters of the Post-Impressionists, his art became popular after his death. In his lifetime, his works looks  so ordinary that people paid little for them. But when his work is sold for record-breaking sums in auction, we all understand that the history, especially for arts, turns out everything. In the long run, to evaluate an individuals greatness only in his or her lifetime is short-sighted.

By contrast, the greatness of some individuals can be judged at face value, as sports mirror some aspects of this condition. The glory of those persons can't be proved or disproved, improved or refined in later time for their achievements are totally performed and toughly fixed by their contemporaries. Michael Jordan, as an example, his brilliant talent is completely exhibited and led the NBA Chicago Bulls to six championships. With that unbelievable accomplishment, no one can deny his greatness no matter what age the person in . Therefore time is not indispensable anymore and a person's value never changes.

To sum up, the speaker may overlook some great individuals, especially in sports and fashion industry, for not taking into account other elements presented above to judge a person, while, for the most parts, the point is well stated and cogent with considering the benefit of history, particularly in science, arts and business areas.