Ralph Waldo Emerson

Vince Tang
English 48A
Journal for R. W. Emerson
October 25, 2011

Reading Quote:

“They measure their esteem of each other, by what each has, and not by what each is” (1179).

Research Quote:

“Ralph Waldo Emerson is arguably the most influential American writer of the nineteenth century…” (1106).

Summary of Reading Quote:

Emerson is saying that some people gage the value of each other based on their personal property rather than their natural traits.

Response:

Emerson reminds us not to measure someone by his financial wealth but to focus on the personal qualities of that person. The recent passing of Apple Corporation’s co-founder Steve Jobs came to mind when I read this. As an avid i-Tunes user, I could not help but feel a sense of sorrow for our loss of the innovator; a person I knew nothing about. The reason was clearly because he represented the i-Tunes that I was so deeply connected to. The death of Jobs triggered my curiosity of his personal life. After clicking through several online articles, I noticed all of them focused on his career and mentioned little to nothing about him as a person; was he friendly, or goofy, or short tempered. Who was Steve Jobs? Almost three weeks later and occasional searches, I have yet to discover if he was a caring father or a loving husband. Perhaps this is how society influences us to perceive people. The media helps us remember him as a successful innovator rather than the quality of him as a person. Would people have shown so much sympathy for him if he was abusive to his family or was a raging alcoholic outside of work? Regardless of how successful he was, probably not. This confirms that we should measure someone by how genuine he is and not by his wealth. It is the influence of society that stray us away from ourselves and our perception of people. With influential writings such as Emerson’s Self-Reliance, “…a cultivated man becomes ashamed of his property, ashamed of what he has, out of new respect for his being” (1179).