ISSUE36 [Victors小组]7月11日作业 by jennetrj

jennetrjUID: 2275453

ISSUE36 - "The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries."
WORDS: 533          TIME: 00:45:00          DATE: 2007-7-11

Who plays an important role in deciding the greatness of the individual, the contemporary people or the ones who live after them? The speaker alleges that the latter one could be the only determinant. In my point of view, people are greatly influenced by their peers and receive objective evaluations from those live after. However, actually this is a case-to-case issue that deserves further consideration.

Admittedly, people who live after the individuals could reach a more objective appraisement based on the retrospective review. The final assessment actually comes out from the comprehensive analysis which includes the history, social background and the influence the character pertains, while the contemporaries could be biased or hold the prejudice personal opinions annex inside. For example, at the time of Cuban Missal Crisis in 1960', President John F. Kennedy covered up the information of the potential outbreak of the nuclear war to the public for sometime, even some top aids in the administration considered the inaugurated president cowed in disposing the infliction came from the Soviet Union. However, as time goes by, historians highly applaud the wisdom and calmness that the young president showed in this issue and analized the greatness of such far-reaching decision made by the president. Apparently, the contemporary patriotism and anger among the populace of the United States later on might give out a misleading evaluation that would inevitably cast shadow onto the Kennedy administration.

Wile in the realm of arts, the critics provided by the peer artists or the society might be more valuable and leaves more masterpieces to the offspring. During the Renaissance, thousands of artists emerged from every city-state in Italy, only those highly patronized artists, like Michelangelo, who received excessive appreciation from the commercial magnates, for example the Medici family, could well developed and pursued the magnificent fames during the time of art resurgence. Contemporary people not only picked out the toughest genius from the tremendous pool of candidates, but also provided them vivacious energy to keep on thriving.

Moreover, the greatness of the individual has more impression from contemporary people and social background. Like the art work processed during theocracy Europe, most preeminent artists produced themes concerning about the mythology depicted in the holy Bible. Either did those prominent buildings designed by the architect in medieval represented the cherishing for the God. Separated from the historical background or value system produced by peers, the artists might obtain nothing except the sustenance for the ordinary life.

In the final analysis, the importance of the individuals is determined either by the people who live behind, who hold an objective view to analize the lifespan of historical figures, or the contemporary people that share the same value system. Human life span could be easily influenced by the surroundings, that is to say the social environment and people' value system. Even a minute change could be the watershed for a whole life. Since people live at the same time might be partial to give out the objective evaluation, people live after will definitely propose judicious assessment. Anyhow, the true influence of the people in the human development will survive in the end and every individual deserves his or her position in the history.

[ 本帖最后由 jennetrj 于 2007-7-12 12:16 编辑 ]