argumentative essay on Ralph Waldo Emerson quote

The Courage of Convictions Can Change the World

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October 31 , 2007

Having the courage of your convictions is imperative to changing the world . When he write , He who knows that power is inborn , that he is weak because he has looked for good out of him and elsewhere , and so perceiving , throws himself unhesitatingly on his thought , instantly rights himself , stands in the erect position , commands his limbs , works miracles` just as a man who stands on his feet is stronger than a man

who stands on his head ' Ralph Waldo Emerson is encouraging his fellow man to take a stand and make a difference . He argues that one must find the good within himself and act on it and then can change the world

Emerson 's belief that one person can change the world , the power of the individual , is integral to this statement . His argument begins with the simply assertion that man 's greatness comes from within . Power , he writes , is inborn . To that end , Emerson believes that it is not the circumstances that make the man , but rather the man who makes whatever circumstance bearable . Man transforms hardships into opportunities man accepts that he can either let the trappings of the world around him dictate how he behaves , or he can rise above it . Emerson argues that it is not the situation that dictates the man , but the inner workings of the man that dictates the situation . He would likely conclude that two people faced with identical circumstances could have completely different outcomes based on how their convictions lead them to respond and whether they follow those convictions

Perhaps the best example of this is the flight on September 11 which was crashed in Pennsylvania rather than into some target in Washington D .C Because some of the passengers on the plane looked within themselves and knew that the right thing to do was to stop the hijackers at any cost hundreds of lives on the ground were saved . Those men decided that it was more important to save innocent others , especially after hearing reports of the attacks on the World Trade Center , than to protect themselves . They followed Emerson 's teachings to the letter . They saw the situation and looked within themselves and saw the action that needed to be taken . Then , with the courage of that conviction , they stood together , facing personal injury , fear of death and ultimately death itself . Because they had the power to stand on their convictions they were able to change the course of history

In literature , the concept is reiterated more than a hundred years later by Tom Clancy in his novel , Crimson Tide . In the movie and novel the ship 's executive officer refuses to follow a command to launch a nuclear weapon as commanded . His stance prevents the world from falling into all out nuclear war and destruction . By naval procedure , he is acting completely illegally , but he chooses to do what he...