self-reliance

 In the freedom writers diary, Ms.Gruell encourages students to be independent thinkers and to question authority. Ralph Waldo Emerson, he is an American writer, wrote about being self-reliant. He once wrote, "Who so should be a man, must be a nonconformist." Ms.Gruell handed out a self-evaluation sheet and asked students to write a belief comment on why we thought we deserved that grade. A student wrote "F", then Ms.Gruell called him and said "FUCK YOU! That's what this is! It's a fuck you, and a fuck me, and a fuck everyone who's ever cared about you!" She told him that excuses will not bring about success and that adversity is not something you walk with, but something you leap over.
 Self-reliance is very important. If we evaluate themself, we can look back on our own behavior in the past. I think that the student wrote "F" because he lost self-confidence. He assumed that he was poor at studying. However Ms.Gruell didn't. She belived his possibility of success.
 Self-reliance is energy to start new things. We tend to be afraid of challenging to start something but if we have self-reliance, we can begin new things and continue them. So, self-reliance makes us more active and leads to do something.