Is a person REALLY great ?
"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them."
- Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Does a person become great because he is destined to be ? Does a person's ability make him reach his greatness ?
OR
Is it the events in his/her life that make him so ?
I have more or less been seeing people achieving greatness because the events made them so, the surroundings in which they grew up were conducive for becoming so.
Recently, i read Biography of Indira Gandi by Pupul Jaykar, and am reading General Mckinshaw's autobiography.
What is it that makes a great person / an icon ?
As in cricket they say, the timing needs to be perfect to hit the ball !
Is it all the timing and the up bringing of the person that matters ?
All that matters is " Being at the right place at the right time !"
4 comments:
It's seem like a common fact, but i think einstein is an exception.
so, do you mean he was destined to be a success ?
You have raised a highly nation-specific issue. In foreign countries, if a person has the capability he DOES become great. In India we have a rigid society, based on castes. No one will give you a respectable scholarship if you do well. Eg: You feature in HSC merit list you get scholarship of 100 Rs. If you are Backward Caste you pay only half the fee for engineering. Here, your birth decides your greatness; you are judged on something for which you are not responsible. How many students get financial aid for doing ME/MTech in India? Only those belonging to lower castes. Why do our students get aid while doing MS in US/UK and not in India? Isn't it a shame ?
Another aspect is you need money, atleast in India. This Kalpna Chawla gal had taken aeroplane flying lessons in India. How many of us can afford that? These computer "wiz-kids" popping up every other day have the money to get access to a computer and can afford to waste their life if they fail to be a genius. How many of us can take the risk to become a burden for our family in trying to feature in newspapers? Limbaram, an Indian archer, featuring in Olympics had learnt to shoot with accuracy in his hometown village. He lost because he did not get enough practise using the fibre-glass bow used in olympics, he was not given funds to purchase one.
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