#1 According to Emerson gifts should be given to people who need the item and it will help benefit their life. Emerson says it is always a great satisfaction to supply the first wants. For instance jewlery wouldnt be a good gift to give a man with no shoes because it wouldnt help him with his main needs meaning its pointless. He also says the only gift is a is a part of thyself and jewlery is just an excuse for a gift unless you are the jewler because you would be giving a part of you. For example a miner would bring his jewls, a farmer would bring his crops, and a painter would bring his painting. It is cold to go to a shop and buy something that doesnt represent your life or talent because it does not represent you in any way. Meaning you showed no affection or spent no time making the gift special for that person. Gifts should be recieved by "never forgiving the giver". The reciever should always be grateful no matter what and must not love the gift more than the giver or the lesson learned is useless.
#2 The social commentary added here is socializing. This means that instead of hiding your true talents or a piece of yourself you express them to someone other than yourself. If you follow these steps about being more open to people it will allow you to create better relationships because you can express yourself. If you are more open with people you can talk about diferent topics easier because you guys now can relate, because you understand him/hers true feelings.
#3 Emerson is critiquing our society by saying that we dont take the time to consider feelings when we give or recieve gifts. Many people just think about the gifts and not about the feelings or emotions involved.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Self-Reliance
Emerson Response
“What I must do, is all that concerns me, not what people think.”
As I examined this quote I realized that this basically means to not worry about what people think because in the end truly my opinion is the only thing that matters. Don’t worry about what people think be self-motivated. This can be applied to everyone’s life because people will not always agree with what you like or dislike and this is why your opinion (except on voting) is the only thing that counts. You cannot listen to what people say because if you get caught up in that you will end up making sure anything you do is pleasing to them, rather than listen to your inner most being and being yourself. This is why being yourself is so important because everybody is unique and different in their own special ways. Basically if you are changing the way you feel or act towards something based on impressing someone else you are really being dishonest to yourself and others. Your beliefs and views about something are some of the most essential feelings that you do not let get shaped or swayed by others. I see this in today’s society so much. For example, at school one might act a certain way (pretending to be a gangster) just to fit in with the pack. Another example amongst one’s peers would be changing the way they speak (proper to slang). This means you are worrying so much about what people think in order to reassure yourself that you fit in. If one only worries about themselves you then acquire the characteristic of being self-reliant. This is because you rely on yourself and not on other people to perform an action or have an opinion about something. Worrying too much about what other people think will eventually cause you to forget about what you think. In the end being yourself is what counts the most because if your not being your true self who are you? And what have you become? If you do find yourself worrying about what people think and ask yourself theses 2 question, because if those group of guys don’t like you for whom you really are then they are not your real friends. This explains itself because if you cannot accept your true self who are you pretending to be? This is a tough situation because a lot people get stuck in this situation of portraying an image themselves as someone they or not to basically get accepted in society. The real answer is that if you accept yourself that’s all that really matters and its all you need. Just as it states in the quote what I must do is all that concerns me meaning worry about yourself and forget about how people view you.
“What I must do, is all that concerns me, not what people think.”
As I examined this quote I realized that this basically means to not worry about what people think because in the end truly my opinion is the only thing that matters. Don’t worry about what people think be self-motivated. This can be applied to everyone’s life because people will not always agree with what you like or dislike and this is why your opinion (except on voting) is the only thing that counts. You cannot listen to what people say because if you get caught up in that you will end up making sure anything you do is pleasing to them, rather than listen to your inner most being and being yourself. This is why being yourself is so important because everybody is unique and different in their own special ways. Basically if you are changing the way you feel or act towards something based on impressing someone else you are really being dishonest to yourself and others. Your beliefs and views about something are some of the most essential feelings that you do not let get shaped or swayed by others. I see this in today’s society so much. For example, at school one might act a certain way (pretending to be a gangster) just to fit in with the pack. Another example amongst one’s peers would be changing the way they speak (proper to slang). This means you are worrying so much about what people think in order to reassure yourself that you fit in. If one only worries about themselves you then acquire the characteristic of being self-reliant. This is because you rely on yourself and not on other people to perform an action or have an opinion about something. Worrying too much about what other people think will eventually cause you to forget about what you think. In the end being yourself is what counts the most because if your not being your true self who are you? And what have you become? If you do find yourself worrying about what people think and ask yourself theses 2 question, because if those group of guys don’t like you for whom you really are then they are not your real friends. This explains itself because if you cannot accept your true self who are you pretending to be? This is a tough situation because a lot people get stuck in this situation of portraying an image themselves as someone they or not to basically get accepted in society. The real answer is that if you accept yourself that’s all that really matters and its all you need. Just as it states in the quote what I must do is all that concerns me meaning worry about yourself and forget about how people view you.
In conclusion the only person that is needed to reassure oneself in the end is yourself. This is called self-reliance.
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