Argumentation Blog #2: Ralph Waldo Emerson

      During the Transcendentalist movement of American Romanticism, writer Ralph Waldo Emerson became one of the people on the forefront of the transcendentalist ideal. His belief was that people should, "speak what [they] think today in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything [they] say today". This view is that spontaneity and following one's beliefs is good. As evidenced by events in the world and in my life, it is shown that spontaneity and belief in ideals in the way that Emerson states is best for ones' good.
      In politics, some have been spontaneous and outspoken, that led to their success. Take for example, the current President of the United States, Donald Trump. Though many do not agree with his harsh words, his followers support him due to him "telling it like it is", or, telling the truth. This way of speaking is what gave him his platform to rise, beating other candidates who have softer words. He has been shown to exemplify Emerson's statement that "tomorrow [he will] speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything [he] say today". Formerly being a member of the Democratic Party, he switch to being far-right on the Republican Party, both opposing and contradicting sides. This shows that it has been successful to "speak the truth", or "hard words".
      Some people, however, use this spontaneity in ideal to pick up their self-worth. Christopher McCandless, whose story was made well known in Jon Krakauer's book Into The Wild, showed his spontaneity as giving him happiness. Though he perished due to a tragic accident at the end of his trek, his spontaneity helped go places such as into Mexico and back without papers, as well as helping him journey the west without problems. His ideals were his ideals, and he followed them wherever they took him; he was spontaneous and that led to the betterment of himself.
     Some, on the other hand, believe that it is best to go with the flow and to not be spontaneous, such as in beliefs or in life, as to opposing Christopher McCandless' way of life. Granted, there are some subjects that should not be taken with spontaneity, but spontaneity helps many people in intuition. In my experience, being spontaneous helped me solve problems that cannot be solved due to time restraints. In an engineering club, my group was faced with a problem building a bridge, and we had to be spontaneous in terms of materials and design. Spontaneity led to my success.
     So, it is shown that spontaneity and individualism can, in fact, lead to success. In life, people should practice spontaneity and belief in their own ideals more. Perhaps that will lead to a happier society.