Issue36 0706GMyth小组第5次作业

最後の使徒UID: 2257608

TOPIC: ISSUE36 - "The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries."
WORDS: 645          TIME: 0:38:19          DATE: 2006-10-31

  According to the statement, individuals' greatness can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries. However, in my view greatness can be decided by an individual's contemporaries, though not so accurate and correct as by his offspring, because in some domains, an individual's devotion can be seen soon. Nevertheless, offspring may assess an individual and his greatness with more evidence, which can only be obtained after his feats for many years, especially in certain domains.

  Whether an individual is great is largely based on whether he has influenced the society in a good trend. In that sense, it seems to me that as long as a scientist, an artist or so forth can make great devotion to the society, and help many other people, he or she can be considered as great. Such devotion sometimes can be seen soon by his or her contemporaries, but sometimes, however, will be neglected until many years later. Because of that, the greatness of individuals is a complicated issue not only decided by contemporaries but also by offspring.

  In some domains, including biology, medical and industry, devotion and value of individuals' efforts can be seen soon, making them more likely to be admitted by their contemporaries. Nobel, for example, developed explosive in his life, and earned great incomings and reputation so that he could establish Nobel Prize. His greatness was both admitted by his contemporaries and   offspring.

  On the other hand, some cultural domains, including art, architecture, economic, social science and so forth, people cannot tell an individual's work is great or not, since they may be too vanward, complex, and their influence to the society cannot be seen at once. Van Gogh's works, for instance, had not been accepted by his contemporaries because of the strong emotion and will expressed by them, which was diversified from classic painting too much. As a result, Van Gogh suffered from a hard life and took suicide in the end, without any reputation and award. However, his works have become the world's most valuable paintings today, and his talent is now widely admitted.

  Since greatness is such a difficult thing to decide, people view it differently from time to time. According to me, offspring can assess an individual's greatness more accurately and correctly, because they can truly see the result brought by that individual's efforts. The Eiffel Tower, designed by Alexandre G. Eiffel, was drastically controversial when it was built in 1880s, because many French thought it undermined Paris' landscape and diversified from traditional cultural. But after one hundred years, the tower has become Paris' mark, as well as Arc de Triomphe, and popular by the world's people, bringing millions of tourists to Paris. The Eiffel Tower's lesson tells us: time can judge an individual's greatness correctly, so as the offspring.

  Nevertheless, such concerns may cause an illusion that contemporaries cannot decide an individuals' greatness because they cannot see what will happen after hundreds of years. But even if the values of an individual's efforts cannot be seen, we now have developed mature system to foresee his devotion and appraise his greatness. The Pulitzer Price, considered as world's most famous social scientific and art price, assesses many people whose contribution cannot be seen at once. Rem Koolhaas, a Dutch architect who won the Pulitzer Price in 2000, is a controversial designer because of his several works which have a similar trend like the Eiffel Tower. But the Pulitzer Price admitted his contribution and theory which may bring strong influence to the world's architecture development.

  To sum up, the greatness of individuals is decided both by those who live after them and their contemporaries. Although contemporaries may neglect or even misunderstand some individuals' devotion, we are not making efforts to avoid such situation. And I believe that one day, most of individuals' greatness can be correctly decided by society.