Journal #21

      To me this quote means that every person at some point in their life must accept themselves for who they are. "envy is ignorance" means that being jealous of other people is being ignorant, because you have qualities that make up you. Other people have the qualities that make up them, so they have theirs and you have yours. Being jealous of them just means you are insecure, and Emerson is saying that in order to accept yourself, you cannot be envious and insecure. "imitation is suicide" corresponds with the previous quote because it is saying that if you copy others you are once again insecure and envious, meaning you are not confident in the person you are and want to be other people. "that he must take himself for better, for worse, and his portion." This part means that in order to accept oneself, you must like the best parts of you and your personality, and also accept the worst parts of yourself. All of these parts make up yourself and make you you. "that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till." To me, this last quote means that even though the world is full of amazing things, easy to get, the best things in the world are the ones that we work for and put effort into. This correlates with the rest of the story, because we must work hard for the things we believe in and stand up for what is right. This kind of strength makes us realize what kind of person that we are, and if we truly believe in who we are. When we are confident in who we are, we can accomplish anything we set our mind to. Being confident is the key to being successful in life and it is also one of the hardest things to do.