MATERIALISM

Henry David Thoreau Walden Pond:

What is a house but a sedes, a seat? — better if a country seat. I discovered many a site for a house not likely to be soon improved, which some might have thought too far from the village, but to my eyes the village was too far from it. Well, there I might live, I said; and there I did live, for an hour, a summer and a winter life; saw how I could let the years run off, buffet the winter through, and see the spring come in. The future inhabitants of this region, wherever they may place their houses, may be sure that they have been anticipated. An afternoon sufficed to lay out the land into orchard, wood-lot, and pasture, and to decide what fine oaks or pines should be left to stand before the door, and whence each blasted tree could be seen to the best advantage; and then I let it lie, fallow, perchance, for a man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.

Reflection:

Henry David Thoreau created this passage through detail and riddles. To me I think Henry enjoy the country than he did with the city, for the country is free and beautiful. There you can roam and be happy to see the never ending sea of grass. Henry was a man who enjoyed the outdoors who could sit and enjoy the smell of the pureness away from the corruption of the city.

Dear Dairy,

Today I read Henry David Thoreau’s “Where I Lived, and What I Lived for”. This passage was created with such descriptions that it allow my mind to wonder to think of a different life style. To think of the happiness of the west and the freedom of the country, it allowed me to think of the possibilities of living for what I want and not for someone else. Henry was a man who used his knowledge to spread the word of the pureness of the country to be able to be free and sit enjoying the smell of the pine. Oh, I wish to escape my city prison to the open fields of freedom. Unfortunately I will have to wait tell I am older but, until then I will continue dreaming the dream of the country.

-Jane

Walden Pond gallery???

Civil Disobedience

Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed on, even impose on themselves, for their own advantage. It is excellent, we must all allow. Yet this government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate. The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way. For government is an expedient by which men would fain succeed in letting one another alone; and, as has been said, when it is most expedient, the governed are most let alone by it. -Henry David Thoreau

Reflection

In Civil Disobedience Thoreau gives of the curiosity of what is the government really for. How is it run, is it run by the greedy men who thirst for power or is it the people who wish to live a happy life. The answer is that no one runs America, because no one can do it alone. There will be always people who will back up the next individual, people who have the same common interest. Is the person who governs America alone, if he thinks he is he is wrong there are thousands of people watching him and helping him pick the best discussion for us all.

Dear Dairy

There is so much disruption in the world I don’t know when we will be ever be free of it. It seems like there is always corruption waiting in every corner. Like the corrupt cities growing bigger and bigger. Soon there won’t be any country left and there will be nothing but cities. I hope we will be able to come out of this dark hole we got ourselves in. I believe someday we will finally have a president who sees for the people, someone who is there for us and not for his own. I think Thoreau believes in the same thing, in his Civil Disobedience he speaks of how America can’t be governed by one person, it is controlled by us all and once we all come to an understanding of this, then we all can get along better with each other. Until then we will just keep on coming up to the many bumps in the road of equality.

-Jane

Extra: