What Matters Most in Life

Emerson was greatly admired for his opinion during his lengthy literary career. Often, whenever he would give a presentation, crowds of people would flock to hear him speak. Ironically, Emerson never really strived to become popular with the public. He was known for his beliefs against comforming to traditional standards set by society. Yet, it was because of Emerson's honesty and truthfulness that people valued his opinions so much. Emerson was a man of integrity and the public knew they could trust him to be honest with them.

Therefore, I believe Emerson's contemporaries would have reacted favorably to his comments about nature and man's place within it. They respected Emerson and highly valued his opinion.

There has been the question as to how man fits in with nature since Homo sapiens first arrived on this planet. There are those people who believe nature is something to be conrolled and conquered. Then, there are others who believe it is nature that controls humans.

I believe Emerson was going a step further by saying that man should look to nature to find the meaning in his or her life. Yes, everyone has problems and sometimes life seems impossible. However, Emerson asks the question as to what really matter in the entire scheme of life. There have been terrible things that have occurred to man and horrible things that have happened to nature. Yet, nature has always found a way to survive. Emerson believed that man needed to learn from nature in order to survive. He wanted others to realized what was important in life. All the petty little problems that society was complaining about really didn't matter. A hundred years after your death no one will care what job you had, how much money you made or how many titles you obtained. You will be gone but nature will still exist. Emerson was hoping others would realize this and turn to nature for enlightenment. I believe his hopes are still valid for today and in the future. It does not matter what actions man takes. In the end, it is nature that will always win and for man to find peace he needs to turn towards nature.