What Does It Mean To Truly Live?

What does it mean to truly live? To be the driver of the car that is your life, rather than the passenger? In order to live a meaningful life, one must think for himself.

This concept is essential in our world today because if everyone were to follow the ideas of society and conform, our world would never move forward and advance. Brilliant, out of line ideas make life meaningful and intriguing. A grey perspective will never provide you with a colorful life. We not only do things we would not like to, but we also make excuses for doing them also. Being human forces us to endeavor responsibilities, many we may or may not enjoy doing. However, we are also faced with the fact that what we choose to do is in our control. Emerson tells us,

Here Emerson explains that we must voice our opinions bravely but also be open to change, even if it doesn’t line up with the beliefs you had in the past. We have the power to live how we desire, it is up to us to utilize it. People all interpret things differently and have different reactions to events. They dissect events and reactions based on personal experiences and goals. Thoreau states, “I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours” (Thoreau, 247). In this excerpt Thoreau is explaining that you will have a success others will not. Your successes will differ from those of your friends and family because they are yours and they are personalized. Everyone has different goals and has accomplished different things throughout their life. People all have a certain way of thinking and their own mindset they follow, this makes them unique. The different interpretations casted upon objects and events make the world diverse and overall interesting. Thoreau recognizes this as he writes, “I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another….”(Thoreau, 243). Here Thoreau acknowledges that people don’t have the same mindset and often

Society consists of those who follow trends, and those who make them. Those who create the trend don’t do this intentionally, they are simply doing what they desire to obtain happiness. However, these people contain a different ingredient, something that sets them apart from the rest. People are like kaleidoscopes, they are designed differently from the outside, such as body shape and height. They are made of different things, pebbles or sequins, different events that have molded them to who they are at this given time. When people take the time to study these kaleidoscopes, they see their colorful patterns or who they are as a person, and are amazed by the beauty of this. The viewers then set to be like the kaleidoscopes, they long to achieve the beauty of others, they are society. It is essential that you think for yourself, that is the only way to be a true, unique