After reading the ideas expressed in "Self-Reliance", I have come to believe that self-reliance is the most important factor in my past and future life.
Emerson believes that a man should not be what he is not. "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide." If a man is envious of other people, he will ignore all merits of himself. If a man imitates other people, he will lose his identity - like suicide. It is common to find a woman like me envious of other people. I am jealous if a girl in the class is more beautiful than I. I am jealous if a classmate gets a higher score on tests. I am jealous if my neighbor has a better car. But as I always find out, when I praise the girl, people will say "you are beautiful, too"; when I praise the classmate, people will say "remember you got a higher score last time"; when I praise the car of the neighbor, people will say "he spent five thousand bucks more on that car than you did on yours". There is always a "the better side" of myself, which I cannot see because it is hindered by my own jealousy. Imitation is the result of jealousy.
"Self-Reliance" is a great article to me, though it was written more than a hundred years ago. It explains some of my past experiences, how I ignored myself by imitating others, and how I regained my self-confidence. It tells me that I should never give up before I try, I should never imitate others and lose myself. Moreover, it also shows me a brand new side of my life. I should trust myself and believe in my own thoughts, instead of caring about what others do. I should live a happy life according to my free will. Life will educate and nourish me. I should seek the peace and joy inside myself. "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, -- that is genius." I will strive for my own faith and my own goals, through self-reliance.
