GREATNESS?!?

So after reading the boards today and seeing the word bandied about I was wondering who is truly great.
In our current world or recent past would you say will be remembered through the lense of time for being a great person. I am not talking about " Oh I like them" type of thing. And no offense to fans of the Dog Whisperer, but I mean people who penetrate past pop culture and celebrity. Towards a true monumental status for their contribution towards different aspects of humanity.
With past generations, you have Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Ben Franklin, Harriet Tubman,Albert Einstein, DaVinci ect ect.
With those people in mind, who alive or relatively recently passed will be remembered being Great?

Washington.

He'll kick you apart.

Think of the poor British children.

Did I mention his four nuts?

I'm very curious to see what 1/10 of 1% of music being made today is still being listened to or performed 100 years from now.

...he says, as if he'll find out some day.

Dove said:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

yeah. he's unquestionably on the list, right after a chimpanzee ripping the strings off a banjo.

My dictionary lists "Greatness" as the quality of having a talent, ability or eminence far above the normal.

To my mind that means that you have to be, not only above average, but FAR above average in a certain area.

To go back to a previous post, I don't consider Washington to have been 'great'. He was a good leader and had the good sense to not be a power hungry ass, something which really added some stability to the republic.

Theodore Roosevelt on the other hand, was GREAT. He not only have a supurb mind (he was able to recite the entire Song of Roland by heart, wrote thousands of letters during his life, wrote several books on conservation which are still considered definitive today.) He had the strength of will to mold his body from being very sickly into one that was very fit, amazing at using media to further his aims, was an above average statesman and the like.

Greatness isn't simply 'good' is well above it.

Ironic that you should say Teddy, since this question popped into my head over the death of some Australian guy, But Roosevelt has done more than almost any man for conservation on America.

Also, would you say that Washington was just good a delagating, in the right place at the right time? I am not sure I consider him great, per se, but I am curious for a better explanation why you don't

Also can an evil person be great.
I should add, I don't mean great at something. Those guys that do rubiks cubes in ten seconds are great at it, but not great in a historical sense.

I think that Flux is greatness incarnate.

Washington, from my understanding of him, was a bit of a distant partrition. He was a good delegater of as you say, but lets look at his career a bit more closely:

This is a man who's military career began when he botched a diplomatic/scouting mission in the then West; an incident which incited the French and Indian War (before that North America was largely considered an "hand off" area during the 7 years war[?]".
He was appointed Commander of the Continential Army largely to placate the Virginians in Congress who were worried about most of the 'good' posts going to New England yankees. He carred on his campaigns and suceeded largely by running away faster than the British could chase him; men like Gates had far more victories in the war than he did. His biggest success seemed to stem more from a certain gravitas that allowed him to hold the rag tag militia together (not a bad skill, but I don't believe that it immediately qualifies him for greatness either).
He was at the Continental Congress largely as a morale figure; he offered little if anything important to the discussions. Franklin and Madison both did a great deal more (Madison especially; he did deserve the moniker "The Father of the Constitution" for a reason)
His Presidency was....bland. Although this isn't a bad thing in and of itself; at that point the nation needed a steady and calm hand at the helm of the ship. He also made some good choices in his cabinet. On the other hand, he allowed himself to fall under the sway of Alexander Hamilton; an intriging spider if ever there was one (this is the same man who did he damndest to manipulate every election he was ever involved in)
Once again he did some good things; his farwell speach inspired America to keep out of European affairs which was a certainly a boon. However, he also allowed himself to be manipulated by the Federalists, he seemed completely incapable of dealing with party politics (most of the Founding Fathers claimed to despise parties, but nearly all of them proved at least adept at using them once they appeared). If he had been President later in the history of the Republic, by say even 8 years, he'd have been inept at dealing with the office and would have been crushed by it.
I know this sounds like a huge slam against Washington, and I don't mean it that way. He's not my favorite Founding Father (I have much more respect for Jefferson, Adams and Franklin I'll admit) but I thought he did a GOOD job and was the right man at the right time. It doesn't qualify him for greatness however.

I heard motherfucker had like...thirty goddamn dicks.

George Washington was a damn Centauri!? Holy SHIT! I wonder how the nationalization clause in the Constitution dealt with THAT!

Could you imagine if we somehow managed trap another man like him in office again? The country seems ripe for it.

I agree; this nation is crying out against the great swell of mediocracy which threatens to drown us all. I fear the Gilded Age is upon us once again!

Great president? Or greatest president?

Who's the guy who saved everyone from starvation in China? The dude that made the grain stand up? He's pretty awesome.

And Tesla.

Yeah they were a great Band!!!

Kidding. It is funny you should mention Tesla. I was thinking of putting his name in with the others in the OP but then thought "Tesla was a genius but does genius alone equate greatness?"
What are your thoughts?

JFK....'nuff said.

who recently though? Post 1960's

Srsly, though. What was that guy's name?

I know who you're talking about but i cant remember him either. he was on an episode of Penn & teller bullshit once.

Norman Borlaug. Said to have saved a billion people from starving.

BILLION

Fifteen percent of the world's population. That's the population of the US, Indonesia, Brazil, Japan and Russia combined. Or just India.

That was since 1960.

(i googled "grain feed billion nobel")

Thank you. that was going to drive me insane.