Self- Reliance by Ralk Waldo Emerson

I chose to write about Emerson's poem, “Self-Reliance” because i felt that i could relate to this one more and i understood it better. When he says that there is a time when every man should take himself for better, for worse, as his portion, i couldn't agree more. People do need to understand that everyone has flaws and their flaws make them unique. By accepting these flaws you are one step ahead in the game of life. You should always be confident and never afraid to say "im wrong" because everyone, even two year olds, will say that they are wrong. I also liked it when he said that to be great is to be misunderstood because some of the greatest people were indeed misunderstood. Emerson gives the examples of Socrates, Jesus, Galileo, and Newton. All these people all had a great view on life but they were misunderstood because people were to ignorant to understand the truth. For example, Jesus told us how we should live and told us that we should forgive everyone. People can take that and twist it around by saying that you should be a "softy" and go around and be vulnerable to everything. But no, Jesus is saying to forgive one another because it is the right thing to do. We as humans dont understand the great gift of forgiveness so we tend to abuse it. And, forgiveness is then misunderstood, along with the Leader. I am really enjoying what Emerson rights; so far this has been the best story i've read.