Weekly Article 4 - Is History Created "By the People" or by Individuals?

History is the events that make up our past that shape the future. The past is everything before the present, so with every second that passes it grows larger by one second. You may ask how you create history or who creates history; can an individual alone create history or can only a large group of people such as a nation? The answer to this last question is both; individuals and groups of people can create history.
When you really think about history you probably only think about the major events you have learned about or heard of in the news. These events may be medical breakthroughs, record-breaking events such as the first manned-mission to land on the moon in 1969, or tragedies such as the September 11th attacks in 2001 on the World Trade Center. These things most definitely shape our future and are major events in history. But, were these events caused or brought about by individuals alone or by large groups of people.
The landing on the moon, for instance, was commanded by only one man, Neil Armstrong, though two men set foot on the moon for the first time on July 20th, 1969. The first thing to jump to my mind is that this event was created by one person, Armstrong, but then I think about all of the people working at NASA and everyone that contributed to safely putting him there and bringing him back. This event was definitely created “by the people”. Most medical breakthroughs and cures for diseases are worked on and formulated by teams of scientists and doctors, so this, like the moon landing, was created by the people. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing)
Major events of history that are sometimes overlooked by people are that battles that occurred many years ago in places such as ancient Greece. Governments that were overthrown and battles that changed things back then were created by the people as well. There weren’t certain people that went alone to fight. They went with armies, or else a battle would be pointless, unless it was one on one. There are not many events widely popular today that were created by individuals, especially not ones other than scientific breakthroughs.
Events that have been shown on the news and events you have heard about, either tragedies or good things, that are popular are usually the only events most people consider to make history. A lot of events like these have a leader. Some people would consider this person alone to have “created” the event, but others would zoom out and look at the big picture. By this, I mean that they would think about all the people who backed up and supported this leader. Take Barack Obama for example. He made history being the first African American president of the United States. There are two different views on how he did it. Either number one: he did it alone; or number 2: he succeeded in his campaign for president with his skills as well as all of the others that supported him, like the voters, his family, friends, and his administration. I believe the second view to be more reasonable. You cannot do everything in life alone; you need supporters and people to back you up.
Another event that I think there are two views on is the plane crash of flight 1549 on January 15, 2009. When the plane took off from LaGuardia Airport in New York, it struck a flock of geese, consequentially both of the aircraft’s engines lost thrust. The captain, Chesley Sullenberger, had nowhere to go as there were no airports close enough for them to land. He managed to safely glide the plane into the Hudson River, though, saving everyone’s life. This event was a tragedy that instead of ending in despair, it ended in happiness. Because of one man. I believe this event, the safe landing, was created by an individual alone and not “by the people”. Yes, there were others that helped him, such as the co-pilot, and the air traffic controller, but he alone had the skill to safely land the plane. (Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger)
Someone not so popular today is Dr. Rosalind Franklin. She was a British researcher working at King’s College in London. She captured the famous “Photo 51”. This image was taken using a technique called crystallography. I won’t get into details, but she single-handedly photographed a sample of DNA and identified its double-helix structure. Her work was stolen from her though by someone who worked at the college and given to two men, Watson and Crick, who received her credit. The point is that she was an individual who made history and that her discovery was one of high importance to today’s perspective of science and medicine. (http://www.rosalindfranklin.edu/)
Another thing about history that is overlooked is that you create history every day. History isn’t just the big things happening in the world today, it is what is in our past. We make history every second of the day by ourselves and with our friends, family, classmates, and other people we may hang out or work with. Just because we are not breaking any records or doing something for the greater good does not mean we are not making history. You make history by just doing your homework. There are bigger things in your life though. You probably will not remember every homework assignment you do, but you most likely will remember things like getting an A on a big test, your SAT scores, and some of the high-level classes you get into. Most people do not remember all of the bad things in their life, probably because they do not want to, but they do remember the good times and all of their accomplishments. Good or bad, all of this is history. We create ours by ourselves as individuals.
Works Cited
"Chesley Sullenberger -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. .
"Moon landing -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. .
Welcome to Rosalind Franklin. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. .