'Make every day the best day'

 

“Writeit on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerson, born on this date in 1803, was thefirst American to advocate for Americans developing a writing style of theirown; to create “American” writing and not just copy that of their forebearsfrom other parts of the world.
He was born almost simultaneously with the commissioning of Lewis and Clark's great expedition into the Louisiana Purchase.  Thus, as the Corps of Discovery was created toopen American frontiers, this great writer and thinker was born to a similar pathway – only toward discovery of the written word.  
Emerson was one of the first writersto keep journals, influencing his friend Henry David Thoreau to do thesame.  Emerson’s lifelong extensivejournals and notes ultimately were published in 16 volumes by HarvardUniversity Press and are considered to be his key literary works – eventhough that was not his intent.  “I justwanted to maintain a record of the things that were important to my life,” hewrote.     As it turned out, they are things that haveinfluenced generations of writers both in their content and the practice ofjournaling itself. 
Ralph Waldo Emerson[image error]
A teacher as well as writer andscholar, he was a staunch supporter of education for girls and women and helpedfound a Massachusetts school for girls. And, from the mid-1840s on, he was a national leader of the abolitionistmovement.  Known for his kindness andsupport of others, he said simply, “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for younever know how soon it will be too late.”