Reflection Week 12: Claims and artifacts

1. My favorite quote was, Men are like plants; the goodness and flavour of the fruit proceeds from the peculiar soil and exposition in which they grow. We are nothing but what we derive from the air we breathe, the climate we inhabit, the government we obey, the system of religion we profess, and the nature of our employment (56). What I have learned is that although we have changed drastically, which is destined to happen with time, our roots are planted deep in the soil of ideals from our forefathers. We are not so far removed from where we came from. We are a new race of men, we are Americans (55).

2. I learned we will not know until we try. “The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried” (Emerson). For a long time I was afraid to try. I was afraid to even attempt for fear of failure. I doomed myself to failure because I would not try. I lacked the confidence I needed to succeed because I was not true to myself. I was not true to my beliefs, ideals and the very foundation of my being. Now as I align my conduct with my belief I know anything is possible. I know that if I set my mind to it, I can accomplish anything I desire.

3. I learned it is important to live after my own opinion and stay true to myself when I am out in the world. “It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude” (Emerson). Why in public do I conform to the opinion of the world? Why do I become some treasonous imitation of myself? When I step out into the world I will live after my own opinion and with the same independence of solitude. I will embrace the divinity God has planted in my soul and nurture it until it takes root and grows.

4. I learned that I should compare myself to no one and accept me for who I am. “These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence” (Emerson). I will compare myself to no one. I will be what I am, what I was created to be and I will exist with God.

5. This week a disturbing truth was revealed to me, “In the right state, he is, Man Thinking. In the degenerate state, when the victim of society, he tends to become a mere thinker, or, still worse, the parrot of other men's thinking” (Emerson). I have been a parrot of other men’s thinking. I considered myself a student. I never thought of myself as a scholar. Now, I don’t know if I could even be called that. I have been parroting back information to try and earn high grades but I haven’t really been learning anything. I definitely haven’t been using the things I learn to spark unique and individual thought. I am ashamed of myself. I know I am capable of more than I have been doing. I was proud of my accomplishments so far but now the bar has been set higher. I want more out of my education and Emerson has opened that door to my personal greatness.

6. “To be awake is to be alive. I came to die only to discover that I had not lived. I wanted to live deep; to suck all the marrow out of life.” (Thoreau) Last week I was reminded of what really matters and what is essential to living the fullest life. To me this quote by Thoreau summarizes how I was living my life and how I feel now. I have completely changed the direction of my life in the last two and a half years. I wasn’t doing anything with my life. I didn’t have any goals. I wasn’t headed anywhere but to a future of misery and loneliness. Like Thoreau, I realized I was going to die and look back and see I had never really lived my life the way God intended me to.

7. Dr. Brandon is always having us look at situations in a different light and with a new perspective. He said, “It is more difficult for us to see the evils in our own time which are incompatible with the things we hold to be true as Americans.” I used to be very selfish and territorial of “my country.” I used to feel like this was my country and everyone else didn’t belong here. Somewhere I went terribly wrong and somehow I felt like this was more my country then an individual who immigrated here.
“America culture and the literature we're reading is built on the shared belief that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." -Dr. Brandon. Everyone has that right. Now I realize how evil I was being. My son’s father is here in this country illegally so I feel different now than I did back then. This country is for ALL people seeking opportunity and liberty. If owning slaves was considered the norm back then, maybe I would have owned slaves. I am not as ignorant now and I can honestly say there is a possibility I might have. This is a big step for me to see the issue from an entirely different perspective and be able to even entertain the idea.