Some things are good to have people beside you to help and support you, but there are times when you need to figure out stuff on your own.  Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote his essay, “Self-Reliance,” in 1841, in his essay he advises his readers to look and search for independence by trusting yourself, being you, and he also tries to convey information about the world.

One way of finding independence is to trust in yourself and your decisions even if it’s the wrong one. In Emerson essay he says “Every heart vibrates to that iron string.” I think this means everyone’s heart sings a song maybe a different note here to there, a different tune, or a stronger melody but we all have our own instrument to play. He also talks about to not be a coward or a traitor but a guide and a benefactor. Which means to not go against your decisions or to betray yourself, but to teach your truths and your mistakes.

Another way to find independence is by being you. “Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood?”, “To be great is to be misunderstood.” Who can be yo better than you? I think it's better to be a window then a mirror. Say you're a window people will see right through you and if the window moves they’ll probably never see the exact same thing twice, a window always changes but if you are a mirror you're just an imitation of the person that is looking at you. Everyone wants to be this wants to have that to be the next big thing or the person that matters and their never really themselves and it's a shame there are more mirrors than windows in this world because you'll never get the chance to see clearly in a crowd.

Lastly Emerson tries to convey that being independent is not a bad thing because to be independent is to be free. “Absolve you to yourself.” He's saying to set free or pardon yourself to you, to let yourself know who you are and to not cover it up because if you've found yourself why would you what to lose it. He talks about to always know that being independent will be a good thing to yourself and it doesn't matter who says otherwise should not influence your choices.

Emorson’s essay covers a lot of good points to find independence by trusting in yourself, being you, and has a good way of conveying the message. These points that he has made has carried over through the times as well not only was it for the time period that he wrote it but has been used even today. As a whole I think self-reliance means to be dependant on ones self. Everyone might have a different view on what it means but it's your own stand point no one else’s.

-Jyotis