Post 2

Gifts

Emerson says that the way we give and receive gifts is selfish and wrong. He says that we need to give gifts without the expectation of getting one in return nor should we expect a 'thank you', and also when we give gifts it should not be for the sole reason of having the superior position, blackmail in a sense. When receiving a gift, any emotion that is shown is bad. If we show sadness towards a gift or if we show gladness towards a gift, both are disrespectful and mean towards the giver. When we show emotion towards a gift, it means that we care more about the gift itself, rather than the person who gave you the gift. it means that we care more about possessions than we do about relationships. the way that we receive and give gifts proves to us that we are more concerned with material wealth than we are with making connections with people and caring for others. Emerson tells us that our gifts should be little pieces of ourselves given to other people. He says that material gifts are not nearly as meaningful to other people as gifts that are small pieces of our souls given to another person. He tells us "But it is a cold, lifeless business when you go to the shops to buy me something, which does not represent your life and talent, but a goldsmith's." If you began to give gifts like this, your life would change in the idea that every time you were expected to give someone a gift, and simply gave them something meaningless in wealth to them, it would not be accepted. When i was little, I really wanted to give my family christmas presents, but clearly i had no money. So I gave my dad, mom, and sister each a small empty box and I told them it was a box of love. My mom still has that box. One time my little cousin in second grade had an assignment to write about her hero, and she wrote about me. Her mom then sent me the letter and it is one of hte best gifts i've ever recieved. She said i wasn't supposed to ever read it, but I am glad my aunt told me about it.

Post 1

Self-Reliance

"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."
This statement means that in our lives, we are given one sacred object, and that is our mind. Our minds are unique to every person and special to each one of us. It is sacred in the idea that i can not be replaced or changed by anything else or anyone else. Nothing should be more important to us thatn the protection of our minds and the upholding and nourishing of them. our mind must grow and must stay strong and keep unchanged by outside forces. In other words, it must keep its integrity.
The word sacred often makes us think of something religious or somthing handed down to us by God, but here it has a different meaning. Here, the word sacred means reverently dedicated to some person, purpose, or object. This means that our mind and our souls are specifically given to us. It is like a fingerprint, we can be found and defined by our mind and by understanding our mind, people can find us.
This statement also tells us that the sacredness of our mind our mind itself is irreplaceable and can not be changed. Because of this we need to embrace our mind and what it brigns us and accept it for what it is. Insead of trying to change it in order to be accepted by other people, we have to realize that they can't be chagned by other people, they can only be changed by us. It is imperative that we accept our minds and let them be what they are. That is the point of them being sacred. Our minds and our souls are are special things that must be protected at all times in order to keep their sacredness intact. In order to keep this up we have to speak our minds and keep them strong to not let others destroy them by flooding our minds with other thoughts that are not ours but soon begin to seem like they are ours because other people force us to accept them. We have to respect our minds and protect them with all our heart. We have to trust our minds and believe that our own thoughts are sacred enough to get us through anything.
All this may seem a little harsh, but the point is that people should not be able to change our minds for us. This doesn't mean that we can't change our minds for ourselves, it just means that we can't let other people or any other outside force change our minds for us.
Speak your mind and never doubt.