GRE! GRE! BLOGS HELP ME PRACTICE FOR THE GRE!

Issue Prompt- "It is always an individual who is the impetus for innovation; the details may be worked out by a team, but true innovation results from the enterprise and unique perception of an individual."

The argument that individuals are always the impetus for innovation is a controversial one. While history attributes popular events to the thoughts of one person, it also provides the details to prove that one person could never produce change on his own. In the final analysis, I believe that the people in an innovator’s environment are too influential to deny credit.

It is often said, “no man is an island.” Perhaps this means that every man (or woman) has some form of community. One of the greatest arguments of all time (nature vs. nurture) is unsolvable because both are established as determining factors. People are a product of their environment and their genetics. It must be accepted that a community, or team, produces intra-communal influence. The innovations that are often ascribed to one person are a result of the cumulative ideas of one team, community, school, or family.

It is argued that the teams may work the fine points of change, but the force that drives them to work most likely comes from one person. One person in history to consider could be Alexander The Great. His title undisputedly implies singularity. He had armies to help him conquer, theoretically, the world, but it is only his name that will have a grandiose adjective attached to it forever.

Alexander the Great was the impetus of expanding borders and lasting tales of his cunning. However, Alexander the Great had an impetus of his own. History lessons may not teach the inner workings of Alexander the Great’s journal, but it does tell us who taught Alexander the Great. Exceptional teachers change the perceptions of the pupils. Plato may have introduced the very perceptions that became Alexander the Great’s inner propulsion. Plato the teacher was once Plato the pupil. It is a facile presumption that Aristotle had as much to do with Alexander the Great’s innovations as did Plato or Alexander the Great himself. This demonstrates that teamwork can span time. Another historic correlation of individuals insinuates that joint effort can span space as well. In the time of both slavery abolition in Great Britain and the rising American Revolution two innovators sought each other’s inspiration, advice, and support. William Willberforce, proponent of dissolving the slave trade, and Thomas Jefferson, a distinguished writer of the Declaration of Independence wrote letters beyond their own borders in search of comfort. Beyond such a bond, both men had a local camaraderie with men and women seeking after goals that coincided with their own. Without considering the longitudinal influences both may have had from mentors, parents, etc. both had a lateral network of support and even leadership.

In conclusion, the idea that individuals are always the action that causes reaction is as debatable as the idea that either nature or nurture is dominant. In the final analysis it is my belief that groups of individuals who act together are the real force of innovation. The equivocal definition of teamwork lumps influences throughout space and time into the makeup of one individual. The world view that a specific innovator experiences could be inspired by any of the generations past or the community that surrounds him.

Inspired By a Worlds' First

100% Compostable Chip Bag
The new SunChip bag has inspired me. Not unlike many others, I have felt pressured by the celebrity-provoked guilt trip on the subject of THE PLANET. I have read magazines and seen so much green propaganda that I began to hate the subject. I have tried not to be wasteful. I reuse stuff. I eat/use all the groceries I buy and leftovers. I make rugs out of scraps for crying out loud. However, the heavy saturation of green lectures made me feel so bad that I thought I was too tall to ever really be green. You see, being tall made me use more material. If I was short and skinny I wouldn't be so wasteful.
The good news is I only felt that way for a day. I decided just to do what I could do and not worry so much about all the really expensive stuff. Then came the chip bag. The 100% compostable (meaning you can grow your food storage with it) SunChip bag is the perfect example of how a company that decided to break ground by just being better. They have engineered the FIRST chip bag in the WORLD that can decompose. They didn't change everything about their manufacturing. They just wanted to make a difference by editing the packaging. The result is one tall, happy customer and a chip bag revolution.
Moments like this remind me of my graduation. As Elder Scott spoke I began to feel inadequate. I started having anxiety and anger because I wasn't perfect. Right then the Spirit spoke to me and told me I had my whole life to work on everything- one thing at a time. And that it would probably take my whole life to even come close. When the SunChip bag came out it kind of reminded me of that. Lift where you stand, find the middle way, work line upon line, baby steps, and every other statement that tells us we should be satisfied with sufficiency. Do your best every day to make this world a better place.