ISSUE36八月13号考有拍必回

melodyfeatherUID: 2676881

TOPIC: ISSUE36 - "The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries."
WORDS: 500
TIME: 00:45:00
DATE: 2009-8-9 16:44:32

Who are the more just judge in judging whether individuals are great or not? Some historical cases show that who attain the most admiration of the later generations were sometimes disrespected by their contemporaries, thus it's been thought that the later ones would make better judgment concerning the greatness of certain individuals. While I think it's the beneficiaries that could make justifiable decision, no matter who are they and which time they live.

It's true that those truly profound thinkers are mostly out of the step with their days thus could only de evaluated by those who live after them, for their contributions are of value in long run. After all, their ideas and labors could not make difference as soon as they propose them and the acceptation of the public calls for time. Another reason should be that the most theories and concepts should endure the test of time to prove their rightness and value. For instance, the greatness of Socrates was not recognized until late. His claims were too hard for his contemporaries even though his ideas had inspired so many scholars and stators.

Something similar also occurs in other fields like science and arts. For example, the paintings of Van Golf were not underestimated by his contemporaries even though these works are highly evaluated by the later generation. It's the lagging of the public at that time that made the society fail to realize the greatness of him.

However, those who have contributed to the society immediately are also admired by the contemporaries and have achieved respects they deserve. People would be happy to advocate who bring them significant improvement in their lives. It's especially manifest for the fields of business and technology, where the contribution would impact on the economic quickly.

For example, Bill Gates, who established Microsoft and brought about the revolution in computer technology, is admired by the contemporary people worldwide. His work improves the efficiency and quality of the management and people's daily life, and also impelled the economics to prosperity. So it's not the later generation's privilege to make decisions regarding individual greatness but also the contemporaries.

On the other hand, maybe neither the contemporaries nor the later generations could judge the greatness of individuals for the facts are easily forgotten or lost. After all, the truth is hard to be known by others since the information that is not complete could only help assumption. Thus what we call history is somehow inference based on records whose reliability is doubtful to some extent. We all thought that it was Cai Lun who invented paper, however, it is suggested that someone else were attributable for this invention despite that no one knows his or her name and no one at that time valued his contribution. If it’s this scenario, the former achieve respect that the later deserves. Thus, without information, no one is enabled to judge justifiably.

In sum, it's hard to make truly justifiable judgment regarding the individuals, no matter who is to evaluate the contribution of certain persons.