A HOME FOR MR. EMERSON
On reading this picture book by Barbara Kerley and Edwin Fotheringham, I found myself thinking about the colleges we’d visited over the summer, and the whole college search marathon that has been our focus this last twelve months. I felt like the universe was talking to me through this book and so I’ve urged my son, who is going into his senior year, to keep these Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes in mind as he considers which colleges, courses and career may be a good fit for him. Perhaps they’ll help us all gain a little perspective.
“Every spirit builds itself a house, and beyond its house a world . . . . Build therefore your own world.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson observed that too many people “accepted the opinion of others, instead of thinking for themselves. ‘Trust thyself,’ he urged his audience. Believe ‘what is true for you in your private heart.’ Believe in ‘the integrity of your own wind.’ ”
This picture book is fabulous - biography at its best. And I particularly like the back matter section which shares how readers can embrace Emerson’s philosophies - from being yourself, to making friends and contributing to your community.
