Compensation (essay)

Compensation is an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson. It appeared in his book, Essays, first published 1841. In 1844, Essays: Second Series was published, and subsequent republishings of Essays were renamed Essays: First Series.

In his essay, Emerson states that everything is well compensated for. Every excess causes a defect; every defect an excess. Every benefit has a tax, and correspondingly every tax has a benefit. The cheat cheats himself. The swindler swindles himself. The real prize of labor is knowledge and virtue. Wealth and credit are mere external signs. These signs, like paper money, may be counterfeited or stolen, but that which they represent, namely, knowledge and virtue, cannot be counterfeited or stolen.

Emerson also states that problems and obstacles are seeds of success. Our strength grows out of our weakness. A great man is always willing to be little. A person who is spoiled by successes and advantages, goes to sleep. When a person is pushed, tormented and defeated, he has a chance to learn something, he gains facts, learns his ignorance and real skill.

Emerson states that the belief that the good suffer and that justice is not done, is an immense fallacy. Nature guarantees that every contract must be paid. If you have an ungrateful master, serve him more. Lean to put God in your debt.

Emerson also mentions a mob mentality. According to him, a mob is a group of people deprived of reason and voluntarily descending to the nature of the beast. Its fit hour of activity is night. Its actions are insane like its whole constitution. The martyr, a victim of the mob, cannot be dishonored. Every lash inflicted is a tongue of fame. Hours of sanity and consideration never fail to arrive to communities, as to individuals, and when the truth is seen, and the martyrs are justified.