Self-Reliance by Ralph Emerson

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Self-Reliance by Ralph Emerson Dear Editor I have recently read Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and with ample time to analyze the passages I have come to the conclusion that even though it was written before our generation it still applies to it fully. Society today has set the laws for both moral behavior, and social behavior. The current generation, just like every one before it, has followed these laws of society like a dumb, but innocent, flock of sheep. I believe it is now time for the public to be aware of its actions. It is time for a light to be shone through the darkness of conformity, and a nation to realize its own shallowness. Society today sets the standards for both life and social behavior. If you notice justice is not served by what is truly right and wrong, but instead by what society believes is right and wrong. A magistrate sits behind his bench and conforms to the beliefs of the majority. A jury is drawn from the same pool that follows the not only the majority, but the other members of the jury. Doing so has made society itself Judge, Jury, and executioner. This defeats the whole purpose of Justice. How can we gain the truth of a subject when every investigator is mirroring his colleague? It is the same as if you were digging a hole with two persons, only that one is digging deeper while the other is filling it up. Neither knows what the consequences of their actions, they only know that that both of them are digging, and in their minds that is the "right" thing to do. Whether they accomplish anything at all does not matter, so long as that they feel in their hearts that they are pursuing what is right. Another conformity that may hit closer to home for myself and my peers is social acceptance. As I walk through the hallways of school I see nothing more then sheep. There is not one person that stands alone in this school that truly thinks for him or herself. In some way or another every person here cares about what people may say about them. They wear the clothes that are in "style", and listen to the top 40 music selections. Even those that oppose the majority are in themselves conforming to each other.

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