Emerson Self Reliance

People of today think that self-reliance has gone too far, that maybe we ask too much. Yet some people can’t live up to that expectation, leaving them asking for help, and that's okay. Being self-reliant isn’t about just being able to speak your mind, being able to voice your opinion, it’s about being able to do things all on your own. Ralph Waldo Emerson, when first writing about self-reliance was all about believing in yourself and that your thoughts were worth being told and to be heard by others. Later Benjamin Anastas wrote his own paper stating how self-reliance had been manipulated over time and corrupted to others’ views, making Emerson’s point that people should do what they think is right invalid. Both made great points; people in

After Emerson, people started to become self-reliant and years after it spiraled out of control. Anastas wrote how he had a teacher who decided to teach how to flip houses because he felt that, that was an important skill to learn. Anastas felt differently. “Our teacher had merely fallen under the spell, like countless others before and after, of the most pernicious piece of literature in American canon.” I agree that his teacher had no right to do anything like that in a class,that is based off structure. There’s a time and a place for everything. Everything needs structure. The world would not last if there were not laws and structure, it would create chaos. Anastas felt that people being self reliant were in fact being self centered, he wasn't wrong. Yet still Emerson and his ideas are still valid in some ways, because people who are the most self centered, aren't being self

You need to be able to take care of yourself and your kids, and if that means you need a little help every now and then that's okay. What isn't okay Is taking money from the state but not trying to get job or trying to fix things. I know people that have had to go on to food stamps for a few weeks after losing a job so she could feed her kids. She didn't want to but she needed that help. My Gram was a single mother of four she worked two jobs and didn’t get help from the state. She is one of the most independant and self-reliant people I have ever met in my life. My Gram had family coming and taking her food when she wasn't there. She never said a word. She let it go and choose to keep doing what was best for her and her family. Her sisters, the ones taking the food, were on food stamps but still took her food. It's okay to need help sometimes but it's also necessary to get out and do things for yourself, you can’t just let others do it all for