Emerson and Friends

Ralph Waldo Emerson possessed many admirable traits in his day. From believing that you should be confident in your own ideas to his belief that character was one of the most important things about a person. Though Ralph Waldo Emerson’s trait that I can most relate to is that you should be able to be the “real” you when you are with your friends, and his overall view on friends.

            Emerson has said “A friend is one before whom I may think aloud.” To me this says a lot. I have had many friends that I could not be my complete self around, fearing that I would be judged if I stepped one foot out of “my place”. I know that that is not how friends should be; you should be able to be your self around all of your friends, like Emerson has said. Although hard as it might be to accomplish that, knowing that even by my best friends I can, and most times will get judged, but hey I am only in high school. Friends should be the people that you are not scared to show your full self, and be able to share your true thoughts around without fear of judgment.

            Ralph Waldo Emerson has also said this about friends, “The only way to have a friend is to be one”. This quote is also very relatable in my life. I have gone through experiences in my life where all I really needed was someone to just be there for me, and those people that were there for me became my better friends. Also another simple example of that Emerson quote is if it is someone’s birthday on facebook, but I know they did not say happy birthday to me, then I do not say it to them. It may be simple, but it portrays Emerson’s quote quite well. Also when I started high school, I went to a different school then most of my friends went to, but I expected that we would stay close. This did not happen though, none of us tried really to be each others friends when we actually had to work for it. It is like the saying the phone goes both ways, but when both ends are too scared to actually pick up that phone, it does not really work.

            Although we are just beginning to start and uncover all of whom and what Ralph Waldo Emerson was and did in his life, I can see that he was a very individual thinker. His thoughts of what friendship was and how to be a good friend still account today for friends and building relationships. His words truly do relate to my life today.