Wisdom from Ralph Waldo Emerson
Man is his own star, and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man,
Command all light, all influence, all fate,
Nothing to him falls early or too late,
Our acts our angels are, good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.
- Epilogue to Beaumont and Fletcher's Honest Man's Fortune
Not sure if the poem above is an original Emerson (doesn't seem like it) but he included as an epilogue to "Self-Reliance." This notion of being yourself and not an imitation is quite popular these days in North American society, but not so at the turn of the Century. The shift from reliance on God to self developed as a signal of a society that has lost its faith in the divine. I'm not saying its a bad thing, it's just an indication of a change in human development. Yet, the change is also indicative of North American society in that we strive believe in working for our own success - which is, if you think about, quite individualistic.
This got me thinking - and I may be going on a tangent here - how hard do we really have to work? I remember sitting on a bus in Hong Kong with my parents and seeing some old people work and a man carrying a heavy sheet of glass (those of you who don't know, it's HOT in Hong Kong pretty much all year around; if there is any ice anywhere, it makes the news). Then my mom, in a fit of self-righteous pity said she felt bad for them and that if they just worked hard they would get anywhere they want. My dad disagreed - and I will never forget what he said, "It's not that they don't work hard. They work very hard, they just never had any opportunities." Working hard does not mean we'll get everything you want, but if we don't work hard, we won't be able to take advantage of opportunities.
Render an honest and a perfect man,
Command all light, all influence, all fate,
Nothing to him falls early or too late,
Our acts our angels are, good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.
- Epilogue to Beaumont and Fletcher's Honest Man's Fortune
Not sure if the poem above is an original Emerson (doesn't seem like it) but he included as an epilogue to "Self-Reliance." This notion of being yourself and not an imitation is quite popular these days in North American society, but not so at the turn of the Century. The shift from reliance on God to self developed as a signal of a society that has lost its faith in the divine. I'm not saying its a bad thing, it's just an indication of a change in human development. Yet, the change is also indicative of North American society in that we strive believe in working for our own success - which is, if you think about, quite individualistic.
This got me thinking - and I may be going on a tangent here - how hard do we really have to work? I remember sitting on a bus in Hong Kong with my parents and seeing some old people work and a man carrying a heavy sheet of glass (those of you who don't know, it's HOT in Hong Kong pretty much all year around; if there is any ice anywhere, it makes the news). Then my mom, in a fit of self-righteous pity said she felt bad for them and that if they just worked hard they would get anywhere they want. My dad disagreed - and I will never forget what he said, "It's not that they don't work hard. They work very hard, they just never had any opportunities." Working hard does not mean we'll get everything you want, but if we don't work hard, we won't be able to take advantage of opportunities.