Having My Say

   I feel very strongly about many things in our world.  I feel very strongly about justice and fairness.  I believe everyone should be treated equally, even though that may never happen.  I do not believe in people getting special treatment, no matter who they are.  One example would be celebrities getting away with crimes.  I cannot stand when a celebrity is obviously guilty of a crime and even gets found guilty, but they do not even go to jail.  I believe that if someone receives a jail sentence for a certain crime, then everyone else should too.  People should also work for their respect and try their hardest at every single thing that they do.  They need to earn their equal treatment.  I think that people who don't do anything or work hard shouldn't receive better treatment, with things like welfare.  I also do not think celebrities with no true talent should be glorified like they are.  Everyone should be treated equally and fairly. 

Whitman Connection

     I really enjoyed the poem, There Was a Child Went Forth.  The detail Whitman used to describe things was incredible.  The lines I connected most with and made me think about were, "Whether that which appears so is so, or is it all flashes and specks? Men and women crowding fast in the streets, if they are not flashes and specks what are they?"  It made me think about our lives on Earth.  It makes me consider very religious and philosophical topics, like the meaning of life.  I wonder if we really exist, or if this may all just be a dream.  It also makes me wonder how big the universe is, since we are just one small planet in one solar system.  In comparison to the rest of the universe we are just flashes and specks.  Some of these are just too big of questions to consider for anyone.  It is difficult to consider our existence or the size of our universe. 

May-Flower-Pink, small, and punctual

May-Flower- Pink, small, and punctual

Pink, small, and punctual,
Aromatic, low,
Covert in April,
Candid in May,

Dear to the moss,
Known by the knoll,
Next to the robin
In every human soul.

Bold little beauty,
Bedecked with thee,
Nature forswears
Antiquity.

      I think that Emily Dickinson is trying to convey a message of being yourself.  She says that everyone has a little flower in their soul just waiting to bloom.  The flower in one's soul will bloom as soon as the time is right, like a flower in May.  One's flower may be hidden or covered, but it will come out soon enough.  She also says that nature believes that it will not stay.  Someone may have a change in heart about something and their flower will die, but a new one will come again.

Transcendentalism vs. Anti-Transcendentalism

    I personally like the transcendentalists more than the anti-transcendentalists.  I feel that transcendentalism is more about life and how one should live his or her life happily.  The transcendentalists make so many interesting and profound connections with nature.  They really make you think about everything they say and make connections with your own life.  I like the fact that the transcendentalists believe that man is born good.  We all like to think of ourselves as good people, even if it is not always true.  "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams ... he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." This quote from Walden makes you more hopeful of your dreams coming true, which in return makes you more happy.  The transcendentalists are also quite optimistic about everything, even bad events they turn around to mean something good.  Their optimism makes their writings so much more interesting and enjoyable to read.  The transcendentalists are definitely better than the anti-transcendentalists.