Self-Reliance in Today's Society
Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay on "Self Reliance" is disputable in many ways. Often his views are looked upon to be senseless because many people can not comprehend the idea of being self-reliant. Emerson's concepts have many useful points that unfortunately are not considered in today's society. He states why people should be self-reliant, what is stopping them, and how to overcome these obstacles. There are several reasons to disagree with Emerson's philosophy about self-reliance, yet some of his notions are logical to follow in today's society. The world we live in has the tendency of making us reliant and co-dependant on someone or something other than ourselves. Emerson states society has reached a point where people have forgotten the principles of self-reliance. People live their day to day life by the rules, expectations and image of the world around them. The general public must practice aversion and escape this routine of living that society has for them. This conformity is very hard to break, but as Emerson says, "whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist." One of
the main reasons people conforms to this way of living is because they lack the sense of trust in themselves to follow their own ideas and views about their life and surroundings. Technology is a major part of our world we live in. If a person can break away from society's views without actually leaving it, than this person can make the most of his or her life. Everyone runs into this situation in their life sooner or later. The past can broaden horizons and teach a man about themselves and eventually lead them to another great part of the world. A life of solitude is not necessary to accomplish self-reliance. Yet, "The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. Everything else should not faze him. A man must only believe what is right and right for others. The majority of people don't practice self-reliance out of fear of trying something new. In my opinion, the ideal way to practice self-reliance is to be self-reliant while still living in society. We keep ourselves locked up, not sharing anything because we are afraid of the consequences that come with stating our opinion. For example, if we look at the uses of a word processor, writers are able to write faster, easier, and print friendlier text. " People must be brave to stand up and not worry about failure. But in the quest in self reliance, it does not matter what tools we have when trying to break free of the mold of society.
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