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It is the popular wisdom that the essential indicator of a great nation is the general benefits of its people. After all, as the organization of common will and action, nation or government is exerting profound impact on the way we live, work, study and play. Therefore, I do agree with the saying that the general welfare of its people is more important than the achievement of the nation's elites. Meanwhile, I will allocate some bets on several other approaches.
Admit it or not, people the country over profits from the population less than the 2 or 3 percent who comprised the political and social elite: the kings, scientists, judges, nobles, artists, and local magnates who had hitherto usually filled history books. For instance, British achievement of defeating German would have been impossible without Churchill’s leading, he gave courage to an entire nation when his country's morale was at its lowest and proved himself brilliantly to lead the British people. Another example is Steve Jobs, the ex-CEO of Apple Company, a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. Bearing the tenet of "there should be one computer on each table" in his mind he worked both hard and creative for many years. Though the day didn't come before his death, Jobs did change the computer world to a much better scenario and restore America to the status of economic powerhouse and technological leader of the world after the financial crisis. All these great minds brought visible, practical or immediately beneficial achievements, some of them even advanced the entire human civilization forward.
However, these cases by no means indicate that the achievements of these social elites are the most crucial indicator of the country. In fact, these achievements do not necessary benefit common people. Especially when considering that not every one who reached the pinnacle of achievement—academic, economic or political was a gleaming example of self-awareness, empathy, self-discipline and other qualities that mark an elevated EQ. The success of Hitler just engenders a host of banes to the lives of people. While recently, the increasing use of biology weapons for human slaughter points out that so-called “advances” in biochemistry can amount to pure losses for humanity.
On the other hand, sometimes the individual's greatness cannot be determined by their contemporaries. Just consider Isadora Duncan, who is known as“mother of modern dance”, was never popular during her life in America. Also, in science world, any theory might be disproved tomorrow, thereby demoting the theorist's contribution to the status of societal footnote. All these render the “achievement- determination” unreliable.
In my perspective, a nation is the convergence of public power to improve citizens' life and security. Also, according to Maslow's Needs theory, which points out that human being’s needs can be depicted as a pyramid made up of five classes of needs ----- survival, safety, belonging, self-esteem and self-actualization. We should always fulfill the basic survival demand first. It's hard to say a country which is full of the hungry, the helpless, and the hapless is great, no matter the elite made how many brilliant achievements.
If we can find approaches which both meet the needs of cultivating elites by way of generate security and benison for its people, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce debate on this issue. The task is open-ended, it can never be finished. But a conscious effort to crack these hard nuts will definitely be helpful. |
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发表于 2012-10-25 15:13:17
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