Green...will never be the new black

Ohhh nature…gotta love it. I know I do… that is when its not a mosquito me, the sun making me over heat, or sand from the beach somehow making it into all of my stuff, even things I didn’t bring to the beach. But really I do like nature. In its own way just being away from all the rubbish of the world it can really help you sort stuff out. I enjoyed the nature experiment. I would never have done it had it not been for this project/Emerson, but I found it to be quite enlightening. I went down to the beach in Del Mar, and just sat all by my lonesome. As I watched the waves ebb and flow thoughts came and went. Every time I drive home from school, going up the coast the thought of stopping crosses my mind, I never do. There are always so many other things that seem more important at the time. However since this was a homework assignment, I finally had an excuse to just go sit and listen to myself think. I got down to the beach and thought I would last about 15 minutes before I called one of my friends, started listening to music, or just got bored and left. But I surprised myself. It was at least 45 minutes before I got up and left my perch, and the only reason I left was because it was getting dark (there’s always creeps on the beach at night.) Anyways, as I got up and was kind of sad that I had to go back to my actual life. I think that personally, we don’t just take pull ourselves away for a little personal time enough. It was actually very enlightening. 

And yet again I contradict myself by saying that though it was enlightening, and special, and surprisingly enjoyable, I still like my iPod, and Monday night’s new Gossip Girl. I seriously think I have said this in every blog…everything in moderation. The more Emerson I read, the more I find this to be true. I should make more time to just sit on the beach, but if I did that all day long…I’d be a high school drop out, but also I wouldn’t have much to talk about. You need time to think about all your issues, and thoughts, and you need time to make new ones that can replace the old ones, that have been re-run in your head, and 10 too many times. All of life’s experiences, including quiet time in nature make us all the better as people. 

BFFs

I see where Emerson is coming from with his friend theories, but I have a few suggestions. I realize that in a perfect world we would all think only our own thoughts, tell our friends everything we were thinking, and we would let nature run wild and free. However, I don't live in that world, and I do not know many people who do. Therefore, I just have a few modifications. I attempted the Emerson friend project on someone outside school. I think that it's an interesting idea, but I wouldn’t use it in my actual life. It’s just not realistic to go around telling everyone you know, whether they’re your best friend in the world or just a friendly acquaintance exactly what you think about them, their looks, and their personality. I tried a modified version, and honestly, I wasn’t that impressed with the results. I think that there is a time to be honest and a time to simply put on a happy face and be polite. No excuses, completely I don’t care what you think honestly can be a great thing, and every person comes to a time when you need to stop sugar coating and just tell them the truth. However, if you don’t choose wisely in how you approach these types of situations, you can end up very disappointed. People are used to friendly compliments, and casual meaningless conversations. You have to ease them into complete honesty. Further more there are times when life needs to be happy and light, and not so serious. Telling someone exactly what you think can be really good, but there’s also something nice about “Hey I like your shoes.” Or “have you finished your exegesis yet?” It’s how we get to get close to one another. We don’t just attack the way people are, even if your not doing it to be rude. Because if you go about this the right way you can end up with a mostly Emerson honesty friendship, you just can’t masquerade around as a crazy person, going up and analyzing and identifying everyone’s deepest emotions, fears, and insecurities.

Now I am not writing this to attack what Emerson is saying, because most everything he’s putting out there is good stuff like when he says, “a friend is a person for whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal , that I may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy, and second thought.” This is seriously my favorite quote in everything Emerson. It is exactly what I think when I think about a good friend. To say that it is possible for you to be so close with someone that you may “think aloud”. That is pretty big. That’s when honesty and that idea of “hey here’s what I’m thinking, you can take it or leave it” attitude is the most perfect thing in the world. It’s priceless to be able to actually just sit and not dilly dally around with silly things. That again are good for certain occasions, but deep down we all need someone to share our thoughts with. It is the worst thing ever to be alone in your mind…because you start thinking and no one is there to just listen. I think that its good to be able to just say what you’ve been thinking. That doesn’t mean that if you’ve been thinking something stupid the other person can’t slap some sense back into you. That’s why we need friends. I mean we should be self-reliant, but at the same time, we should also be able to accept that ever so often we need a reality slap from someone who generally cares, someone who knows your inner thoughts, who knows you, and who knows what you need to hear. Sometimes these kind of sharing experiences don’t require any talking just someone to listen to all our pent up, and ever so random thoughts.

Les Cadeaux

Gifts was a great Emerson essay. I personally love gifts, both Emerson gifts and those ever so exciting $50 gift certificates to Bloomingdales, or Nordstrom. However the latter is much more common. Though I have participated in the giving of an Emerson gift, I’m not sure if I’ve received one. How sad. But I think it’s really hard to actually get the courage to give someone a gift that really truly means something to you, not something that is just impressively expensive, or even something they need, but something that really has meaning. It’s usually not even something someone is expecting. However as far as gifts go, usually an Emerson gift stays with that person its given to for a long time, whether its material or not. Nordstrom’s gift cards get spent, and the things you buy with them go out of style and are soon forgotten, but when someone gives you a gift from the heart, something that meant something to them in giving it to you it’s the real deal. An Emerson gift serves a purpose for both giver and receiver. It brings them closer together. Now, as much as I am cheering on the Emerson gifts, I probably wouldn’t appreciate them nearly as much if there wasn’t a mixture of meaningful, non material gifts, and OMG I need those Monolos gifts. Even Emerson says when referring to gifts that we want or need that “necessity does everything well.” Its just like all good things in life. Everything in moderation. When you get too many OMG gifts you are stuck with a bunch of…stuff that becomes meaningless, and when you get only Emerson gifts you have nothing to wear. Further more we wouldn’t even be blogging about Emerson gifts if they weren’t so rare. They show that you really care about someone. When you take the time to make something or teach someone something its….deeeep. 

Traveling is a Fool's Paradise

There is no truer statement than "traveling is a fool's paradise". Many people enjoy the luxury of traveling. They think that a long vacation can solve any and all of their problems, but we all know that’s not true. You cannot run away from what troubles you. It will follow you where ever you go. Wouldn’t that be perfect if you could just run away from your problems for 2 weeks, and spend your days on a sunny beach, run your fingers through the silky sand, and come back with everything perfect again. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t love that. I have found myself many a time thinking that if I could just go somewhere else things would be different, too bad that’s not true. To be honest running away from your problems only makes them worse. Sure you get 2 weeks to sleep, relax, enjoy a spa treatment, maybe do a little shopping on the side, but at the end of those 2 weeks you have to go back to your normal life. You can’t live in your vacation forever, otherwise you’d end up bored and broke. Even though plenty of us think about getting away from it all, only a fool would actually take that idea to heart.

The idea of escaping your issues through travel is along the same lines as running away from home when your little. You get upset about something and think that there is only one way to solve things… you pack up your little bag of stuff and walk about half way down the street, only to realize you miss your parents. When you travel to get away from your problems you may pack a little more than a small bag and a stuffed animal, but when you get to your destination you end up running back home and loving all the things you hated 5 seconds ago. True that traveling is for fools, but even a fool can redeem himself on travels. There is something awfully wonderful about traveling. I simple cannot sit here and point out that those who use travel to get away remain fools the entire trip. An intelligent fool (now there’s and oxymoron) learns from this. When you travel you do have a chance to learn more about yourself in a different setting than you normally live in. I think that there is a big part of traveling that helps us appreciate what we really have. For instance when I went to Paris, I was so excited to be there. I mean come on it’s the fashion capital of the world, and I was happy to get away from the California Casual, constant fast food, and just the same old thing. However, after a month in Paris, I found myself missing everything in San Diego. I missed the amazing Mexican food, I missed my best friends, I missed the occasional ability to still be seen as socially acceptable in a pair of dare I say it…sweat pants (the Parisians would never dream of wearing those). When I returned to San Diego and one of my best friends met me at the airport I was so happy to see him. By missing all of these things when I came back that friendship was better than ever, and Mexican food tasted amazing, and even the occasional pair of sweat pants made me smile. I think that though Emerson is correct in saying “traveling is for fools”, but I think that even when you go away for the wrong reasons you can come back for all the right ones.