a bit of philosophy

"to be great is to be misunderstood" - this quote given by Ralph Waldo Emerson (in his essay Self Reliance) has always interested me. what does it mean? is he really saying what he means or as all good writers do, has he left it to the readers own interpretation? personallly, i think it's the latter. is he referring to the greats of his time? the initial interpretation of this quote puts in my mind thoughts of albert einstein or men/women like him whose intelligence made them misunderstood because their intelligence reached a level that few truly understood. but when put in context the quote takes on a whole new meaning that i never before saw. Emerson's essay Self Reliance encourages confidence and strength to know who you and and then live who you are. as life experience has taught me, my greatest qualities have been discovered in times when i feel alone and misunderstood. "great" has limitless definitions, it is not confined to only those who are smart, talented, wonderful, perfect, etc... i think emerson puts this on an individual level. sometimes you will be misunderstood for what you are great at. "great" qualities emerge in misunderstanding, self reliance is achieved through great qualities. so in my mind the quote is just as true if changed to: "to be misunderstood is to be great".

just a little late...

I'm fully aware that Thanksgiving was a week and a half ago but I'm just now getting around to blogging about it so... deal with it ha. My Thanksgiving was wonderful, despite being on crutches and painkillers. I got to spend the day with the people I love most and I got to eat a lot haha. I love that holiday... I'm one of those people that has a hard time recognizing the blessings in my life so when there is a day to force me to recognize those I like it. The thing that has occured most to me as I think about my blessings is that the Lord will never ask us to do something without giving us the strength and things necessary to achieve it. Now this may seem like an obvious principle to everyone but it's something that I really realized just recently. Everything I have in my life has been placed here to help me with whatever I've been asked to accomplish. I just want to thank everyone who has helped me throughout my life, I love you and I may not show it all the time but I'm really grateful for you and what you do for me :) I hope everyones Thanksgiving was as good as mine.

P.S. I love you Duke :)