Emerson and His Impact on Today's Society

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Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emerson is a firm believer of maintaining self-reliance and values rather than following the crowd. He also explains that in order to be truly successful in life, a person must make decisions and trust in his or her judgment. In today’s society, teenagers are more likely to not be self-reliant because the teens feel they will be judged for having different beliefs. People today need to realize that they should not conform to be like the rest of the world, they must not depend on the judgment and criticism of others, and people must refuse to travel somewhere in order to forget their personal problems. Through Emerson’s piece, readers are able to reflect on how people in the world today must try to be independent of others and uphold their personal opinions and philosophy. Citizens of today’s society have to comprehend that by conforming to the pressures of others and imitating everyone else, they will get nowhere in life. First of all, a teenage boy attends his first big high school party at a friend’s house one weekend and he is pressured into drinking beer and smoking marijuana so he will seem cool in front of the popular jocks and cheerleaders. Since many teens are so terrified of ridicule and downright embarrassment in front of fellow students, they decide to give in to their peers even though their actions may go against their beliefs. Emerson believed that by being an individual “you shall have the suffrage of the world.” Furthermore, an innocent sixteen year old girl’s parents go out of town for the weekend and she invites her cute, popular, senior star quarterback boyfriend over, but he pressures her into having sex when she i... ... middle of paper ... ...iance, readers are capable of seeing how citizens in the world today try to be independent of others and sustain their personal beliefs and philosophy. Individuals have to put an end to conformity and trying to be a duplication of everyone else because they will never achieve success if they never decide for themselves. A person must not rely on the judgment and minds of others and learn to think for him or herself since depending on others only exhibits a person’s inferiority to larger institutions. People must stop using travel as an excuse to evade personal problems because if they do not have a direct confrontation with the dilemma, trying to escape will only lengthen it. People in today’s society must appreciate this work so they will approve of their individuality and be stronger in fighting against everyone else that disagrees with their personal philosophy.

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