Thoreau calls for simplicity, imploring the people to live as simple as they can. He believes that a life with “two or three” affairs is much better than a life with “a hundred or a thousand.” Thoreau understood our need for advancement when he said, “Men think that it is essential that the Nation have commerce, and export ice, and talk through a telegraph, and ride thirty miles an hour, without a doubt, whether they do or not.” We are constantly trying to improve and do the next best thing instead of spending the day unhurried and with purpose. “Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?”
Thoreau would most definitely chastise most all of the electronic devices we use today. He said in the 1850’s that he could “easily do without …show more content…
In my experience, I have found that this is the case more often than not in our society. People are constantly looking forward--to the next Monday, the next new gadget, the next promotion, graduation--that they forget to appreciate what they already have and the memories they are making. Theodor Seuss Geisel once said, “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” We need to constantly be reminded, through all of our distractions, to truly live in the moment and appreciate what we …show more content…
Thoreau does not suggest isolation, he merely wants us to not be overwhelmed and deceived by the new advancements in communication. Yes, he argues, the news is great, but we do not need to constantly be bombarded by the same things over and over. Thoreau wants us to adopt a lifestyle of connection with the universe, but to get this way, we must “spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito’s wing that falls on the rails.” He says near the end of the essay, “If we are alive, let us go about our business.” So, while we can stay in society and not be isolated from the world at all times, we must never forget to truly
Thoreau would most definitely chastise most all of the electronic devices we use today. He said in the 1850’s that he could “easily do without …show more content…
In my experience, I have found that this is the case more often than not in our society. People are constantly looking forward--to the next Monday, the next new gadget, the next promotion, graduation--that they forget to appreciate what they already have and the memories they are making. Theodor Seuss Geisel once said, “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” We need to constantly be reminded, through all of our distractions, to truly live in the moment and appreciate what we …show more content…
Thoreau does not suggest isolation, he merely wants us to not be overwhelmed and deceived by the new advancements in communication. Yes, he argues, the news is great, but we do not need to constantly be bombarded by the same things over and over. Thoreau wants us to adopt a lifestyle of connection with the universe, but to get this way, we must “spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito’s wing that falls on the rails.” He says near the end of the essay, “If we are alive, let us go about our business.” So, while we can stay in society and not be isolated from the world at all times, we must never forget to truly