i personally think great leaders make history. if it wasn't for people starting campaigns, communities, groups, organizations, etc, to go against the grain and to stand up for what's right (or wrong, there are those out there too), then nothing would be done.
like women's rights.. if it weren't for feminist women, women today still won't be able to vote, or buy cars, or work, or own land... it definitely wasn't history creating great leaders.. because hundreds to thousands of years before, all women were doing the same thing: not working, not buying land/houses, not voting, not having a say in anything, and most definitely not in charge of anything other than housework or bearing more children to the family name.
or what about black/afro rights.. if it were up to history to make great leaders, that would never happen.. they were slaves for so long, and they were bought and sold, like products! leave it to history to keep that going.. but leave it to great leaders.. like abraham lincoln and mlk jr to open eyes about equality.
and how about now with GLBT rights? sure, we're allowed to vote, buy land, and work.. but we still are not equal. we can't get married like the others, and we can't be written in stone like the others.. civil unions can only do so much.. the HRC works their butt off to get things the way they should be. if it were left to history.. people would still think AIDS came from being gay, or that gays were a secret race or kind of people.. a lot of people would continue living lies and hiding themselves and their inhibitions.. and affairs would be more constant and adultery.. between the same sex.. which is like a giant slap in the face that your SO is sneaking around behind your back with someone of the same sex.. it's as if it's worse than doing it with your best friend! but now, most of us can just say it and accept it.. and move on. no need to say, "it's not you, it's me" anymore.. or fake a love for someone, just to make the parents and family name happy..
as [the great] Margaret Cho said in her Revolution tour: "To me, silence equals nonexistence. If I don't give too much information, if I don't 'go there', it was as if I was never there to begin with. "
if history made great leaders, then today's leaders SHOULD BE FANTASTIC. BUT!! our one leader is not. he's not fantastic, and he is far from it. far be it that he should know how to read a book rightside up, know what an OBGYN is, or attempt to save his mom's quote of hating black (& poor) people. history repeats itself for a reason, and that's because the current leaders are not learning from their mistakes or from what happened before..
great leaders, make history, so that future leaders will know of it and expand on it.