When you read about all the great people that fought for others and against injustice. You will notice a depressing pattern. These people were punished for their believes or for being different than a society that doesn’t leads you anywhere.
Today lets read about some of the great people who changed the world but were treated terribly.
Some of them saved lives while some of them helped us evolve.
Dietrich Bonhoeffe–
When you read history you must have thought why are the Germans in a deep sleep can’t they see that Hitler is a fascist who is bent on killing an entire race.The point is how did he convinced almost the entire country that Jews are the cause of their problems. Looks like Germany was in a deep sleep. Dietrich was a christian priest who protested against Hitler’s views. He influenced people against Hitler.
He organized a radio broadcast in which he talked against Hitler’s views and that broadcast was cut in the middle. Only if there were more people like him in Germany. Later he escaped his country and traveled to US. As the war progressed he felt responsible for all the Germans who had to choose between nationalism and destroying an entire race.
On his return to Germany, Bonhoeffer was denied the right to speak in public or publish any article. However, he managed to join the Abwehr, the German military intelligence agency.
Before his visit to the US, Bonhoeffer had already made contacts with some military officers who were opposed to Hitler. It was within the Abwehr that the strongest opposition to Hitler occurred. Bonhoeffer was aware of various assassination plots to kill Hitler. It was during the darkest hours of the Second World War that he began to question his pacifism, as he saw the need for violent opposition to a regime such as Hitler. Bonhoeffer struggled with how to respond to the evil nature of the Nazi regime.
Within the Abwehr, efforts were made to help some German Jews escape to neutral Switzerland. It was Bonhoeffer’s involvement in this activity that led to his arrest in April 1943.
When Visser’t Hooft, the General Secretary of The World Council of Churches, asked him, “What do you pray for in these days?” Bonhoeffer replied: “If you want to know the truth, I pray for the defeat of my nation.”
Alan Turing–
Alan Turing was an intelligent computer scientist. During the second world war the Britisher’s needed someone who can decode German ciphers. From 1939 through 1940, Turing invented the machine called the Bombe, which was designed to break Enigma faster. By the end of the war, over 200 Bombes were in operation. With the Bombe, the US Navy was able to decipher messages from enemy U-boats much faster, giving the US victory in many battles, including the Battle of the Atlantic.
Turing also made a test to judge a machine’s intelligence known as the Turing Test. He talked about machines having human languages and thinking like a human which today is known as artificial intelligence.
Modern computers are based on his idea and prototype.
After the war he was found out to be homosexual and was chemically castrated. This led him to depression and suicide.
Socrates-
If you read philosophy then you must have heard about him. As they have periods defined on his name. Pre-Socrates and Post-Socrates.
The greatest thing about him was that he was aware of how little he knew.
He always used to say that he knows nothing.
He was often mocked because of his beliefs and was held in trial because he always used to ask people what they know.
He was charged with impiety and corrupting the young. He could have easily saved himself but for that he would have needed to stand against his beliefs. He gave up his life by not properly defending himself and stood by his beliefs till his death.
He was poisoned by Hemlock and was an example of how democracy can sometimes turn into mob rule.
Saving our life is one of the most primal instinct we have. The question that we need to ask ourselves is there something you value more than your life?
Galileo Galilei –
Galileo was the one who challenged the believes of the church and the people. Before his discovery people used to believe sun and moon rotate around the earth but he believed that the earth rotates around the sun. He also proved that tides are the reason of rotation. At his time the bible was believed as scientific and he changed that. Ultimately the roman catholic inquisition put him under house arrest for his entire life.
Valery Legasov–
Valery Legasov was a soviet inorganic chemist who was a member of the committee inspecting the nuclear disaster of chernobyl.
The disaster could have lead to a thermal explosion killing millions. He stopped the blast from escalating.
He found out that the accident occurred because of the carelessness of the operators but there was also a technical fault in the RBMK reactors. There were many nuclear reactors in the soviet union. He told the truth in the testimony but was alienated by the Soviet Union and in the end committed suicide.
After his suicide the USSR finally admitted that there are technical faults in their RBMK reactors.
Let’s look at the contributions of these people and how they were treated by the very people they were trying to help. Is this the result of wanting positive change for the world?
Post your views in the comments.
