"Bid the invaders take the shoes from off their feet..." by Ralph Waldo Emerson
This simple line is, in my opinion, one of the most intriguing lines in the essay by Emerson. The simplicity of it also makes it one of the most confusing. It seems that it can be taken in numerous different ways and I really do not know which way is right, if any are truly "right". What I took from this quote is that we must not judge what we do not know. We need to take the time to understand and accept everything as it is originally. This may not seem to make the most sense but I believe it to be beautiful. After I read this line, I immediatly annotated "BEST LINE THERE IS!!!" in my margin. It just stuck out to me and I fell in love with it right away. This is something everyone should live by. How easy it is! To bid the invaders to take off their shoes is to welcome them into your life. They are no longer invaders and that seems to be the underlying message. We cannot decide who is an invader and who isn't. It is not right. We all deserve to be looked at with untainted eyes.
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I hadn't really put that much thought into it when I first read this quote, but you did a good job expanding it. I don't think that it is always easy for people to look at others with untainted eyes, or let strangers into their lives. That is something most of us can keep working on improving.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you went in-depth with this quote...I kind of just brushed it off without thinking much of it. I totally agree with you after hearing your explanation. You can't let people into your life and consider them invaders!
ReplyDeleteHa oh Emma. I can just picture you getting super excited over this quote--underlining it, circling it, probably even pointing arrows to it--just because you liked it. :) Anyway, your analysis was really intriguing. I feel like this essay was filled with basic life lessons that anyone could follow--like this one! If we're just nice to each other, not rude, not judgmental, not harsh, life would be so much more tolerable. So many people tend to bring others down to bring themselves up, and if we were all just true to ourselves, we could all live much happier lives.
ReplyDeleteI did actually underline it and point an arrow to my annotation ;)
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