Using close reading what does this passage mean from Thoreau's Walden:?

Question

From Thoreau's Walden: Shall a man go and hang himself because he belongs to the race of pygmies, and not be the biggest pygmy that he can? Let every one mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made.

Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. It is not important that he should mature as soon as an apple tree or an oak.

Answer 1

Live up to your own standards. Don't measure your worth or success or destiny against someone else's.