Can the daily actions of average people have a significant impact on the course of history?

Question

What do you think about this? Can every single move we make really make a difference for our future...in our history? As it is said by Thomas Carlyle in "The Hero as Divinity," No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of a great man." Also, Leo Tolstoy said, "In historic events, the so-called great men are labels giving names to events and like labels they have but the smallest connection to the event itself." When I read these qoutes from our history book, I was suddenly deep in thought, wondering all about how man can really affect history. And so, I thought of this question...what are your thoughts and answers?

WOW so hard to choose a best answer...apparently everyone's answers are very good...if only i could make everyone BEST ANSWER, i would seriously!

Answer 1

What a magnificent question! I hope you discussed it within a class or with your inner circle of friends.

From simple structures, great complexes can be built.

Appreciate first that EVERY person counts, EVERY action counts, and it is ALL CONNECTED. People by and large either create events, react to events, or observe events.

The historical significance of any single act or event is determined by the force and impact and endurance that it has on subsequent acts and events. Past "History" has the ability to inspire new, grander, and more important acts or events because people are involved.

"Common" people of one era can be characterized as both much more or much less through the lens of historical analysis.

Yes, is the straight-forward answer to your question.

What I find interesting is that "great people" don't always know that they are amidst a situation of the greatest historical importance. There is a paradox there.

Answer 2

Well of course every action usually has some reaction. Maybe not monumental at its occurrence. In my lifetime I have saved a few people from certain death do to near drowning or from cardiac arrest. Who really knows what these people were destined for in the future; they now have because someone saved them from certain death.
On the other hand what if Adolf Hitler was killed in a childhood accident. How would that have impacted history. Would there have been another being to take his place in history that would have done the exact same thing he did. Or what if John F. Kennedy had not been assassinated in Dallas, TX. how would that have impacted our current history. This has been in the thoughts of thinking people throughout the ages. What if? Just think of the possibilities it's mind boggling. I don't think anyone can answer your question to your full satisfaction. I know I can't ,but its something to think about.

Answer 3

Yes that is how Martin Luther King Jr started at as just a Preacher in a very small church, but soon began to speak out against the prejudiced and racism and many people became followers that allowed for action like the segregation of schools and other departments

Answer 4

Yes the actions of every day man impacts history. It is often the many choices of several people that allow big change to happen. The many inspire the few to do big things and therefore it changes history.
The colonists were upset about the tea tax imposed by england. Many decided to not drink tea, fewer decided to do a tea party, eventually some sighned the decleration of independance.

Answer 5

I do believe we have a concentric effect on the people around us and they in turn affect those around them etc, etc. The great movements of society are begun by those who do not know they have begun anything and credited to those who have to clarity of sight to notice something new is going down. One man or woman can not carry out an entire chain of good or bad events. This very fact demands that we pay attention to what we support and what we fail to support. Take a decisions that are seemingly small.... like should we sell soda in our schools... and then link it (and other school lunchroom and home based decisions) to the frightening jump in childhood diabetes and you can see that long term effects can follow from not caring enough to fight off bad choices as they are presented to us.
The good and the bad choices made by you and I eventually and definitely do make it into the history of our times.

Answer 6

add to your quotes Edmund Burk's ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’

every action you take is important, and every action you take in concert with another is crucial......for example, the USA is divided up into voting precincts, state by state; the Presidential elections of 1960, 200, and 2004 would have been different of only one person in each prescient had voted differently.

every purchase you make is a political statement.......worried about global warming? don't like the idea of supporting a country that keeps tens of thousands of its citizens as political prisoners and sends tanks in to crush students having a demonstration? Look at everything you buy and if it says "Made in China"........put it back.

Answer 7

Average people impact history everyday. If nothing else, look at assassins. Where would we now stand if JFK, Bobby Kennedy, or even Dr King weren't assassinated by these average people. (if you don't buy into the whole conspiracy about a larger power assassinating them)

Answer 8

I think that most actions that I take can affect my life, but I seriously doubt that anything I do will have a significant impact on history.

Answer 9

Thats an interesting question and I hope you'll get some reasonable answers

Answer 10

More details required