Great men were destined to be great
Filed Under (Random Note) by Nic on 24-10-2007
Tagged Under : Branson, Ghandi, Greatness, Historic figures, Mandela, Margaret Thatcher, Mother Theresa, Mugabe, Random Note
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I have been struggling lately with a bit of internal strife. I am a thinking man. I always have been. I think alot, all the time, non-stop, about everything.
My latest mind-bender is whether great men (and women) would be great in any era or context or was it there social background and influences that moulded them?
Please don’t tell me that it’s a mixture of both, that nature and nurture both apply in equal amount. A spoon full of sugar doesn’t make the medicine go down. I want an answer. I have an answer in my head but it keeps becoming null and void as this week as progressed.
Let me explain what I mean by great men. Firstly the reason that I don’t refer to great people is because I am a man and I relate to great men moreso than I do to great women. Margaret Thatcher, Mother Theresa and others were and are still great women and human beings. But I want to focus more on men like Ghandi, Mandela, Richard Branson, Mark Shuttleworth, Bill Gates, Hitler, Stalin, Mugabe, Biko and others.
These men may not all have been good men, but they were all great. One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist just as one man’s greatness is another man’s failure.
But it is undisputable that Hitler was a great leader. He had the entire world fighting against him. That is greatness. He was not a good man, and was in fact an evil man, but great nonetheless.
My question is this: Would these men still have been great if things in their lives were different? If they had loving parents, if they lived in Mexico instead of Germany or were wealthy instead of poor. If Branson was a trust-fund baby would he still have had the drive? If Ghandi lived somewhere that promoted equality instead of segregation would he still have been great? If Mandela was white would he have helped to end apartheid?
I personally believe that these men are great and would have been great irrespective of their surroundings. I firmly believe that great men are great and are destined for greatness be it evil or good, rich or poor, greatness prevails.
Given your examples I’m leaning toward saying that greatness is circumstantial, but my mind and heart tells me otherwise.
If I listen to what’s inside my head I feel that certain people have that “soul” (for want of a better word) and belief in themselves to achieve greatness.
It as much of a belief I think than anything else in life. We know that greatness defies sociological setbacks as is proven from all the great men listed.
Whether or not people would still have that drive if they started off with everything going for them is of course up for debate.
I doubt Paris Hilton will ever prove me otherwise, despite her visit to Rwanda.
I’m sure though there are great men and women who have achieved greatness even without no substantial drawbacks in life.
I suppose that the likes of Prince Harry and William might be proof that greatness can come from luxury. But then there are different pressures on them that call them to greatness.
Thanks for your comment.
You’re right, you do think too much
I say this, because I am the same. If it bothers you, you need to teach yourself a technique called StopThoughts. My therapist drums it into me every single session.
At night, when you are in bed and thinkin about the worlds poverty problems, stop your thought and tell them to shag off.
Easier said than done, actually.
Sorry I don’t have any profound answers on the above for you, though.
Nic,
Great is a word applied to allow us to build a picture of a person. How we percieve them depends on what we deem as being ‘great’.
I don not deem Branson to be ‘great’. He is ’successful’ in business but not ‘great’.
A ‘great’ person is someone like Mother Theresa. She was selfless and completely and utterly devoted to easing the pain of the impoverished.
I cannot see Mandela being called great. His reputation is born of being a freedom fighter who has achieved celebrity status for being persecuted and walking out of prison to lead a nation.
To be regarded as ‘great’ he must have doen something great to enrichen the lives of millions of previously impoverished black South Africans. Did he?
No.
Like Branson, Mark and Bill are successful businessmen. Not great.
Hitler, Stalin and Mugabe - pure evil.
So, my friend we need to be careful about the difference between ‘great’, ’successful’ and clebrity people.
And as for the question about if they’d be as great or successful or evil if they lived in another country - we will never know so stop speculating and go play golf or go get pissed because you won’t end up frustrated through speculating.