This poem is classic, and this is a truthful interpretation!


Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities
no doubt have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely
and with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with
your old nonsense.

This day is all that is
good and fair.
It is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on yesterdays.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson



Out of all of the people in this world, how many truly live? How many attain inner simplicity and seize each moment? Thinking of this brings a few words to mind. As stated by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Finish everyday and be done with it…tomorrow is a new day,” knowing tomorrow is a new day is part of living. Through events and tragedies in life, realization has come to the word live and remembering that tomorrow in fact brings a second chance. From observing today’s world, one can notice that sometimes you need to reach out and help others live, and reach that second chance as well.
It is amazing that one who is on their death bed, can still live their life so carefree. As long as my family and the Lowry family had been friends, Mrs. Kathy was as lively as a last minute shopper on Christmas Eve. Then came the news, Mrs. Kathy had bone cancer and a very limited time to live. Sadly, this sickness got the best of her. Up until that tragic July day, Mrs. Kathy seemed to live by Emerson’s words, “Tomorrow is a new day/ begin it well and serenely/ and with too high a spirit/ to be cumbered with/ your old nonsense.” After she passed away, thinking about all she accomplished in life and the principles she lived by made one realize that life can be all you want it to be. Life is precious. It is too precious to waste a moment on past days and, “old nonsense,” as Emerson believes.
Putting old nonsense in the past, and smiling into the future are part of living your life at its best. Live and smile go hand in hand. They say that everyone smiles in the same language. As true as that is, when the news is turned on and you glance around the world, it seems like more and more people are frowning. Terrorism in America, war in Iraq, starvation in third world countries, all the hatred and ignorance is unreal. Yes, all reasons to frown, but reasons to stop truly living? If you look towards a bigger end goal instead of dwelling on the past, you can start to live, fully live. The truly happy people that fully live are rare. Those are the people that speak out words such as Emerson’s simply stated, “This day is all that is/ good and fair/ It is too dear/ with its hopes and invitations/ to waste a moment on yesterdays.” Sad enough, when those words are spoken, people become unable to hear them. If only America, and the rest of the world could hear those words and take heed to them, and then truly live.
Mr. Emerson’s writing speaks one obvious word, live. As he says, “Finish every day and be done with it…tomorrow is a new day…this day is all that is good and fair,” why not say live? Realizing to live your life and helping others to get the best out of their life is remarkable. Life is a succession of present moments, so make sure you are living each one. Attain inner simplicity and simply live.


-Amanda Jordan student

I like that poem.