Who are great men?
(This article has been read 61 times)
Posted by browneyes on July 06, 2003 (Sunday)
Who doesen't want to be called "great"?
Great men don�t become great during normal or good times. They only shine in contrast to the prevading gloom during an advserse time. And their brightness makes them attractive to everybody else.
Are great men great leaders ? Well, not necessarily. Though the names of great men which come to our mind on hearing the phrase belong to fields where leadership skills have been used very effectively. This is certainly not because of any leadership skills requirement of great men, but the very definition of great, which implies impression of many. And if, thus, Gandhi or Mother Teresa or Winston Churchill or Alexander come to our minds as great men, then it is because of this definition of great. However, most people would also respond to this question by referring to their parents, or their teacher or their grandparents and other relatives. Most certainly, not all of them would be leaders.
Do great men have great oratorical skills ? Another question which can be answered with a sure negative. Enough great men have attained their eminence without a word spoken. Their achievements and their characters were shouted aloud through their actions. So, though Martin Luther King (Sir) is said to be a great orator and a great man, we do have Stephen Hawking, an eminent scientist who does not get stopped by Parkinson�s disease to think what no man has thought and understood before, a great man.
Are all great men benevolent and nice ? A question which most people would sought to evade or give a benevolent and nice response. Ofcourse, they would say. However, whether you look in politics, science or in sports, some great men were and some great men of today are arrogant and have a number of other non-nice things about them. That however does not remove the aura around them, a sign of greatness many say.
Are great men strong in character ? A finer question and a yet finer answer required to this should elaborate the number of instances when great men had to take decisions which may not have been line with the character portrayed in their social lives. So though Truman ordered the Fat lady to sing over Hiroshima, he had a fine character, a strength unparalleled by many. And despite, Caeser being a cunning politik, who did not keep his word to a friend, shall always be recounted as a great man.
Do all great men believe in God ? Well, so many do and so many don�t. However, all agree that it�s a matter of choice.
Do they have high intellect and good reasoning abilities ? I doubt that, since many of them would not even know how to communicate with a common man and remained in their dream worlds � Beethoven did compose a lot of music in the darkness of his last years. Did Napolean have a high intellect ? Or did Gandhi, when he agreed to partition of India, irrespective of what his belief was. Could you call Newton�s ability of writing down Principia Mathematica sufficient to explain his inability to communicate with most people in his normal life.
If all the above is discounted, then what is left to identify what is required to be a great man ? This is the first question which poses some challenge in true spirit. I have fought with this question succesfully and unsuccesfully throughout my life.
And with all that thinking has come to realization, that all it needs to be a great man is to impress one common man, one person in life and you would be a great man forever. If you share the same emotion, same response with everybody, you could become a popular great man. But that is where the difference lies.
So if you love your kids and spouse and take care of them , you can become a great dad/mom overnight and thus a great man too. And if you are able to do this for more, the greater the popularity of your greatness increases. Surprisingly, we do not need any qualifications to be great. Any word, action or emotion which makes you connect with the person achieves it for you. And if you can touch someone so potently, then all he could say is that �You are a great man�
What stayed with you?
A line that lingered, a feeling, a disagreement. Great comments are as valuable as the original piece.
Responses4
Great men...as in the eyes of the beholders...! Who are we to judge or selectively dissect greatness ? Greatness is not a perceptive reality.It's an internal feeling of exaltation at one's belief that one's done what few could or would have done.Never has greatness been a prisoner of contexts, as soo many propound.Greatness doesn't change in essence.All who act in paying obeisance to it, are just living the tenets and premises, that set their internal living force, immune to contexts,environments and associations. What then is great, my lady....
We are not referring to "how" do we "know" we are great, but "when" and "why" do we feel someone else is great. Therefore this article would have no correlation to your thoughts related to internal feeling of exaltation. I agree to that, however on a lighter note, maybe that exaltation should not be assumed as greatness while there is some modesty lying next to it
..if only you were 'humble' enough to realize that someone else could be better at something, and 'wise' enough to learn how to equal or better it, you'd be great rather than need look for 'greatness'....
good one