Henry Thoreau's book Walden is a great counterexample to the way we live today. He talks about going to the woods in order to live deliberately. In hopes of find what the wilderness could teach him, he made himself independent from the environment in which he had been living in. He soon began to find that his writing housed new ideas that came to him while secluded in the woods. After reading some of Thoreau's short philosophies I realized that what he decided to do could be very beneficial.
"Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one; instead of a hundred dishes, five; and reduce other things in proportion." This points out to me that they had the same problem we do today back then. We eat because we can. We do not eat because we are hungry, but because we are bored. This strikes me as a problem because this ties into the overproduction of cattle and poultry. Which ties into the use of steroids and fertilizers and how they pollute our planet. It is one giant circle of negative effects, just because we refuse to cut back on what we eat. Does this generalize us as selfish?
I was also interested in his idea of the railroad. "And if the railroads are not built, how shall we get to heaven in season? But if we stay at home and mind our business, who will want railroads?" I tied this into consumer products today. The reason products are made is to interest us and because we will buy them. If we stop buying useless stuff we will stop the production of "waste", these things that will end up in the garbage with in days. That quote is ended by "we do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us." This helps explain how production is not something the benefits us, but benefits because of us.
I wish that our lives today were not so focused on technology and how much of something we have. We base our lives and our success off of what we make a year, or how many cars we have. When in return you’re just measuring how much time you have wasted and how much life you have lived. I am excited to take the Thoreau Challenge because maybe it will open my mind up to things that I had not once aware of.
I definitely agree with you. We do waste a lot of time, money, and energy on things that are unimportant. What helps me to put my life in perspective is to think about those who live without all these things. Why do 3rd world countries still exist when others have a home for every season?
ReplyDeleteKris,
ReplyDeleteI was really impressed with the quality of your remarks in this blog. It sounds like you've done a great deal of critical thinking and made some really significant connections between Thoreau's ideas and the world we live in. (It warms my heart as a teacher :) Good luck with your Thoreau challenge! I'm looking forward to reading your blog reports!
I like how your point out that most products out there are not to benefit us but benefit from us. I definately think our lives today would be better without facebook and instant messaging. We would spend more time with each other and not so much time with our cell phones and computers. And I too am looking forward to the Thoreau challenge as I think it will make me reconnect with the simple pleasures in life that many of us have forgotten.
ReplyDeleteYou brought up some very good points. I would have to agree with you we need to focus our time on other things besides technology. I feel that as a whole our country waste a lot of time, money and energy on things that are not important.
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