Cynthia Katasi English 103
Mr. Voth
06/20/2013
Charity and Individualism:
In the year of 1841, a writer by the name of Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote an essay titled “Self-Reliance” about his philosophy on what it means to be a self-reliant individual through a series of ideas.
Emerson’s philosophy is one of optimism and hope, it is based as much on intuition as it is on logic or reason, and it is idealistic in its validation of the inherent worth of each individual form of existence. Two of the ideas that Emerson writes about are “Charity” and “Individualism.” He rejects the idea of charity being an “apology” and wants the individual to live free of shame. According to Emerson, it is better for charitable acts to be genuine rather inconstant. However, he believes that Individualism is important and that people should trust and be true to themselves.
Emerson considers charity as an unacceptable institution. According to him, charity is uncharitable and hypocritical. He argues that a man should worry more about his or her own family and community at home than about “black folk a thousand miles off” (4), and he chides people who give money to the poor. “Are they my poor?” he asks. He refuses to support morality through donations to organizations rather than directly to individuals. The concrete act of charity, in other words, is real and superior to abstract or theoretical morality. He sees charity as cloaked with hate and pride, as an untrue institution that serves only our vanity. Emerson also believes that men only act charitably in penance, he writes;
“Men do what is called a good action, as some piece of courage or charity, much as they would pay a fine in expiation or daily non-appearance on parade. Their works are done as an apology or extenuation of their living in the world” (5).
Men should do the opposite: withhold charity and live without shame,