Pope John Paul II
As the Pope lingers near death, exemplifying for us all the redemptive power of suffering and the meaningfulness of life, all life, from its beginning at conception through the instant of death, it is perhaps a good time to consider whether he is, as I noted in passing below, the greatest man of the last century. I see only three other potential candidates:
1. Winston Churchill, for identifying, fighting, persevering against, and ultimately defeating the menace of Nazism.
2. Ronald Reagan, for identifying, fighting, persevering against, and ultimately defeating the menace of Soviet Communism.
3. Albert Einstein, for discovering and elucidating the theories of special relativity and general relativity that have fundamentally changed the way man understands the cosmos. (Einstein may not seem to rank up there with Churchill or Reagan, but that may be because we are short-sighted -- states and ideologies appear to wax and wane, but religion and science appear to be modes of truth or truth-seeking that endure for millenia. Communism may return, and who can doubt that virulent anti-Semitic nationalism will someday return, but four hundred years after Newton f=ma, except under the conditions stated by Einstein.)
Any other candidates out there? I can't think of any.
UPDATE: After posting this on www.polipundit.com, I got a few additional suggestions, including FDR and Harry Truman. FDR maybe, Truman no. There might be a case for someone like Gandhi, particularly given the development of India in the past half-century into a stable democracy and growing free market (although ironically you could probably credit the centuries of British influence for much of that as well). You could also maybe make a case for Eisenhower for leading the Allies to victory in the ETO. But I'd stick with Churchill, Einstein, John Paul II. Reagan, FDR and Gandhi just below that. Eisenhower another rung down, Truman another rung below that. There are probably others in the fields of science and technology, or business, that deserve mention too. Thomas Watson of IBM? Bill Gates? Henry Ford? Turning back to politics, maybe even, eventually, W.
1. Winston Churchill, for identifying, fighting, persevering against, and ultimately defeating the menace of Nazism.
2. Ronald Reagan, for identifying, fighting, persevering against, and ultimately defeating the menace of Soviet Communism.
3. Albert Einstein, for discovering and elucidating the theories of special relativity and general relativity that have fundamentally changed the way man understands the cosmos. (Einstein may not seem to rank up there with Churchill or Reagan, but that may be because we are short-sighted -- states and ideologies appear to wax and wane, but religion and science appear to be modes of truth or truth-seeking that endure for millenia. Communism may return, and who can doubt that virulent anti-Semitic nationalism will someday return, but four hundred years after Newton f=ma, except under the conditions stated by Einstein.)
Any other candidates out there? I can't think of any.
UPDATE: After posting this on www.polipundit.com, I got a few additional suggestions, including FDR and Harry Truman. FDR maybe, Truman no. There might be a case for someone like Gandhi, particularly given the development of India in the past half-century into a stable democracy and growing free market (although ironically you could probably credit the centuries of British influence for much of that as well). You could also maybe make a case for Eisenhower for leading the Allies to victory in the ETO. But I'd stick with Churchill, Einstein, John Paul II. Reagan, FDR and Gandhi just below that. Eisenhower another rung down, Truman another rung below that. There are probably others in the fields of science and technology, or business, that deserve mention too. Thomas Watson of IBM? Bill Gates? Henry Ford? Turning back to politics, maybe even, eventually, W.
posted by PDB at 11:01 AM
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