Emerson Day 7

This was the last day of my Emerson assignment. I spent today at home cooped up and doing homework, so not much exposure or talking. Overall, the assignment has been an eye-opening experience. I learned more about the thoughts that I express towards others and I learned about how one person's brutal honesty can affect other people's thoughts. If one is honest with another, they will be honest with you. I also learned that although Emerson is an iconic and important figure of American Literature, but that does not mean that we should all follow his words. We are not ourselves without the words that describe us. If we constantly spew a stream of honest consciousness, we risk hurting others and when we hurt others, we are alone. We can very easily lose ourselves in our own opinions and, by the same token, the opinions of others. If the philosophy of isolation works for you, then you do you. For the rest of the world, most people find it more important to make better connections with the people around them than strengthening ties within themselves. The whole idea of transcendentalism is going back to Nature to find ourselves and to be ultimately human, but in my opinion, we cannot accomplish this without contact with others. Other people make us who we are, so being honest breeds more honesty. Emerson was right about being yourself and staying true to your own path, but speaking your mind should be a person's own choice and although we would like people to be brutally honest, they are not always. The only solution to this, the way I see it, is for people to simply put out their thoughts in a way that makes sense, but drop harsh words. If people want to hear the truth, they will tell you. It is not a person's job to spread their opinion unless their opinion is asked for. In this way, the ways of Emrson should be understood and followed more loosely in today's society because things have changed since Emerson was alive.