Outstanding Personalities in Perspective

السبت ٢٠ - ديسمبر - ٢٠٢٥ ١١:٥٠ صباحاً

English | عربي

اضيف الخبر في يوم الثلاثاء ١٣ - يناير - ٢٠١٥ ١٢:٠٠ صباحاً.

Outstanding Personalities in Perspective

Charles Mercieca, Ph.D., Global President

Concordia International University

Seoul, South Korea

During this 21st century, Concordia International University in South Korea published 30 books each one is entitled "WHO." These books are printed nicely in cartoons. They are easy to understand even by school children. We present these 30 personalities in three parts, consisting of 10 each. This first part deals with: Barack Obama, Charles Darwin, Bill Gates, Hilary Clinton, Stephen Hawking, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Barack Obama happens to be the first US African American president. He was born in Hawaii 1961 to a Kenyan father and a Caucasian American mother. Shortly after she re-married later, his mother moved to Indonesia with his stepfather when he was 6 years. There he experienced a lonely childhood. At age ten, his mother sent him to Hawaii to be with her parents. He spent his teens with discrimination and he felt very confused. He felt he belonged neither to his father's nor to his mother's homeland.

After he started college he wanted to start a new life and visited his father's homeland Kenya. After his return, Obama began to study law at Harvard University. Upon graduating he worked as a civil rights lawyer to bring happiness to many. At age 35 he entered politics where he believed he could be of greater benefit. His charisma and ability to speak enabled him to become the Democratic Party's presidential candidate. In 2008 he was elected US President and soon became the symbol of hope for many.

Charles Darwin was born in England. Later, he entered Cambridge University and majored in theology. But his love for plants and animals forced him to collect insects and explore nature. Soon Botanist Professor Henslow urged him to travel on a British survey ship, the Beagle. This took him to South America and the Galapagos islands where he learned more about nature. He enjoyed exploring many species of animals. In 1839 he published all of his findings entitled: The Voyage of the Beagle.

Since he was always interested in evolution, in 1859 he published: The Origin of Species, which was widely circulated around the world. He spent most of his time doing studies and research in the theory of evolution. For many evolution became synonymous to Darwin's name. Many who were critical of his theory of evolution, ended up accepting it. His theory of evolution was revolutionary. As proven later by theologians, his theory did not contradict creationism. It helped confirming it.

Bill Gates, born in 1955 in the USA, is viewed as the richest man in the world. His main interest was in mathematics, science and computer programming. While in high school he started a business with his friend Paul Allen. He entered Harvard's Law School but he realized this was not his mission. At this time, personal computers hit the market, which helped him find what he wanted. With his friend Paul Allen he co-founded the computer software company, Microsoft. This brought him great success.

He soon entered into partnership with IBM and created an operating system for their computers. The success of MS-DOS followed the release of Microsoft Window 3.0. In 1994, Bill Gates married Melinda French who influenced him to dedicate himself to charity work. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was established to help eliminate famine and disease around the world. He pledged to donate 95% of his wealth to charities. Since 2006, he and his wife worked for their Foundation.

Hilary Clinton was born in 1947 in Chicago. Her father, Hugh Rodham, run well a small textile business. Her mother Dorothy gave her a lot of courage. She also had two teachers who exerted great influence on her, her history teacher Paul Carlson and her pastor Don Jones. Soon she developed her political identity. She studied at Wellesley where she did well and was politically active. She later went to Yale Law School where she met her husband Bill Clinton who became the Governor of Arkansas.

At the same time, Hilary worked for Rose Law Firm and worked fully for the poor and underprivileged. She also became involved in children and their education and was instrumental in improving the educational system among the poor. After eight years in the Whitehouse, she became the US Senator of New York. Afterwards, she became the first female to run for US President. She lost to Barack Obama who became the 1st African-American president. He soon appointed her Secretary of State.

Stephen Hawking was born in England in 1942. He inherited most of his parents' ambitions and became an avid reader. He was so inquisitive that he would put gadgets apart and then reassembled them. His father made him try to explore the stars. He visited many museums where he experienced the wonders of nature. In college he chose physics as his major. Then entered Cambridge University. At this time, diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, he was told he had only one to two years to live.

In spite of his poor health, Hawking continued with his research and in 1967, with Roger Penrose, he published "Singularity Theorems." In 1974 he published "Back Hole Evaporation Theory," which was an asset on black holes. As his health deteriorated he lost his voice and could speak only through an electronic device. His will to discover the secrets of the universe made him even more active. With his hard work and will to succeed he proved the saying that "when there is a will there is a way."

Oprah Winfrey was born in the USA in 1954. By the process of time she became the highest rated talk show host. She was also a great actress. However, her childhood was quite unpleasant. It was full of uncertainties. At birth she was abandoned by her father and soon afterwards she was separated from her mother. She was then raised by her grandmother. She liked reading very much. At age seven she went to live with her mother who was so busy that later she had to pass Oprah to her father's care.

Her reading enabled her to get all the inspiration she needed to continue to move forward in life. After she won a beauty pageant, she stepped into broadcasting through radio. Later she began to host a talk show where she became famous. But her primary concern was on the poor. Their deprivation of life reminded her of her childhood. She soon devoted herself to charities to benefit South African teenagers and children at any stage of life. Her warm heart wanted to bring awareness of the suffering.

Steven Spielberg was born in the USA in 1946. He developed a great love for movies. At a very young age he began to make movies starring his sisters and friends. At age 13 he made his first official movie entitled Escape to Nowhere. His film, Amblin, gave him the opportunity to be hired by Universal Studios. At age 21 he became the youngest director to work for Universal Studios. In 1974 he was recognized for his direction of The Sugarland Express. Later he was made the director of Jaws.

In 1981 he directed Raiders of the Lost Ark, produced by his friend George Lucas. A year later E.T was released and he became to most admired director. In 1993 Spielberg won seven Oscars for Schindler's List. In addition, Jurassic Park broke box office records and instilled in many great interest in dinosaurs. He proceeded to do many things that enabled more talented people to become involved in quality film production. Even today he still works hard to continue to bring people together in harmony.

Thomas Edison was born in the USA in 1847. When Time Magazine selected the most influential people of the time, Edison topped the list. His great ambition was to improve the lives of people. He was curious and would ask many questions. This habit was not viewed favorably and his school dismissed him after only three months. His mother, who was a teacher, took care of all his education and helped him take interest in inventions. At age 22 he started an electric vote-recording machine.

Later he created a research laboratory at his home and hired various engineers to make people's lives better. Here he invented the phonograph which impressed the entire world. He also invented the light bulb to replace candles and oil lamps. Later, he succeeded in making incandescent light bulbs. He patented over 1,000 inventions and he played a very important role in the area of electricity. His will to make substantial contributions to society enabled us to benefit immensely as a result.

Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809 and later he became the 16th President of the United States. He was determined to bring freedom and peace to all people. During his adolescence Lincoln witnessed a slave market where slaves were sold like property. He was shocked and he sharply criticized slavery. Through such speeches he became well known and later he won the US presidency. As a result of his stand against slavery, the slavery states formed the Confederate States of America.

In view of this, Lincoln became more determined and on January 1, 1863 he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that made all slaves in all states, black and otherwise, become fully free. As a result, Lincoln was re-elected in the 1864 Presidential Election. In 1865 the Civil War came to an end. Unfortunately, a few days later Lincoln was shot and killed. But Lincoln's courage proclaimed: "Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from Earth."

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in the USA in 1929. He worked hard for the promotion of human rights in the entire nation. As a result, in 1986 the US government made a national holiday in his honor. It was a recognition of his work to improve civil rights in the nation. He read the works of famous scholars and tried to figure out a way to bring about racial discrimination to an end. After he listened to a speech of Mahatma Gandhi he learned about the importance of non-violent resistance. Gandhi made it clear that violence can never be used by all means.

He advocated peaceful resistance based on love by using effective methods to bring about peace and harmony among all people. An African American woman, Rosa Parks, was arrested for refusing to give her seat to a white person on a bus. Then Martin Luther King, Jr. led a bus boycott. Afterwards, the blacks could ride busses sitting where they liked. He then was recognized as leader of the civil rights movement, in spite of being arrested several times. He later was granted the Noble Peace Prize.

In Conclusion

These were the first ten of thirty in the list that refers to Outstanding Personalities in Perspective. One of the things they all shared in common lies in the fact that in their early life they all seem to have encountered great difficulties from their family members and those around them in a number of ways. Also, in spite of such obstacles they were all determined to keep on moving forward to achieve the goals of their dreams. It looks like the saying: “when there is a will there is a way,” was applicable to all of them. They all have something unique and encouraging to offer.

This presentation dealt with the first ten of these 30 personalities who had a book written in cartoons on each one of them entitled "WHO." My next presentation will deal with the next ten outstanding personalities consisting of: Louis Braille, Albert Einstein, Jane Goodall, Walt Disney, Winston Churchill, Warren Baffett, Nelson Mandela, Steve Jobs, J.K. Rowling, and Jean-Henri Fabre.

We hope that these wonderful books, which describe the achievements of these personalities will inspire many to work hard with determination by all means. Once we have a clear mind relative to the goals we want to achieve in life, we should move forward, while trying to overcome every obstacle we encounter.

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