Well, the post on the Top Ten Horses' Backsides did not get the response I'd hoped for but here's hoping the Top Ten Good People will.Your criteria can be your own and mine are that the person must have had great character and great fibre - in other words, be a "good guy or girl". But that's not enough - he or she must have heavily influenced people.
A problem is someone like Nurse Cavell - heroine to the Brits but not to the Germans. Or Marconi -influential but what about the man? Or Richard Branson - a British icon but what is his contribution to world society? Or Jackie Gleeson - hugely popular but was he a nice man and was he influential down the ages?
With all that in mind, my top ten are:
1] Jesus of Nazareth [natch - but not because of divinity - I'm judging Him as a man];
2] Any saints of any religion who suffered for their faith;
3] Salvation Army [despite their religious slant, they were always there in time of need in many countries and aid was given freely];
4] Sakharov/ Solzhenitsyn [great, inspirational men under great duress];
5] Dr. Livingstone [the sheer humanity and learnedness of the man - opposed slavery];
6] James Cook [decent man, opened much of the world and countered scurvy];
7] Abraham Lincoln [despite the negatives behind the scenes - great man];
8] Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi [inspirational to more than Indians];
9] Florence Nightingale [nursing service angel].
10] Richard Branson [how an entrepeneur should be]
Couldn't find room for Aung San Suu Kyi, Dian Fossey, the Curies, Nurse Cavell and Joan of Arc and left out many noted philanthropists on the grounds that quite a number of these actually work for the dark side.
What are yours?
Ten.
ReplyDeleteOK, I'd agree with Christ, but leave him out of this list, because of the duality of his nature (in my opinion, as a Catholic).
So. My top ten.
1. I'd agree on Saints and Martyrs.
2. John Lennon
3. Nietzche- even if you dislike his concluisions, it takes great love for your fellow man to dare to challenge orthodoxy of thought.
4. Marx- for the same reason. though I don't condone all done in his name.
5. Thomas More.
6. Churchill. Controversial, but had a kind of genius.
7. Lucius Junius Brutus. Semi legendary, but symbolic of a whole system of ethics.
8. Michael Collins.
9. Nelson Mandela.
10. Mohammed.
I like yours.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to agree with CBI on the nature of Jesus, because since he was divine it's sort of a foregone conclusion that he'd be a heck of a guy.
Nelson Mandela, Lincoln, and Churchill are good ones. I'll add Cesar Chavez (sort of a Mexican Martin Luther King Jr), Francis Schaeffer (a theologian), and C.S. Lewis.
Also a woman I served once in a hotel restaurant who had perfect manners, treated me as an equal and not a subordinate, and left me $500 on the table. I never saw her again, but that was unmistakably a fantastic woman, successful because she deserved to be.
Sorry, didn't see horses' backsides post b4 but have commented now. Good people:
ReplyDeleteChrist; Mary; Mandela; Albert Camus [for a philosophy of helping humanity even though you felt there was no ultimate hope]; Rabbi Hugo Gryn; Paul Rusesabagina; Vera Brittain [for a stance against war which I cannot always condone but cannot help but admire];Christabel Bielenberg [for showing that war hurts both sides]; Francesca Luard and her parents [that's 3 there!]; Madame de Stael.
Edith Cavell is controversial because she used her status as a nurse in a way which was probably not acceptable.
Then there are people like Elizabeth Fry and Caroline Chisholm "the immigrants' friend". But you probably never read "Girl" magazine in your youth, did you, Jmaes? It was full of heroines!
Another vote for Nelson mandela.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info about Edith Cavell, Welshcakes. When I worked in peterborough, there was an Edith Cavell hospital and I always wondered who she was.
With my medical bent I have to suggest two physicians, one man Médecins sans Frontières as it were:
ReplyDeleteAlbert Schweitzer and Norman Bethune. Don't know who you kick off, I think you just have to expand the list to twenty.
Nelson Mandela. Martin Luther King.
ReplyDeleteMother Teresa.