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Walden, by Henry David Thoreau
- Jun8 15y agoI love Walden, and whenever I'm stuck in yet another time sucking corporate meeting I dream of going off, building my own cabin, and living alone for a bit (see this cautionary tale, though: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_wild http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_wild). My esteem for the self sufficiency of Thoreau, as described there, was just a bit dented though, when I learned that every week he would take his laundry to his mom and sisters to have them washed (http://books.google.com/books?id=_73o98V6s7cC&pg=PR20&lpg=PR20&dq=thoreau+laundry+sister&source=bl&ots=DV5KoCiVL5&sig=i0VuuvTFn0VhzRKcwfZce-qNfTE&hl=en&ei=GgzATcvZN-P50gGq3vGuBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=_73o98V6s7cC&pg=PR20...).
- nonrecursive 15y agoHa! I never knew that about his laundry. I imagine the attitude was different then. The idea of a grown man asking his mother and sisters to do his laundry nowadays seems downright pathetic. But yes, I love Walden too. Often, I'll use parts of it as placeholder text. I feel like it's good to remind myself that my work has no point if I am not able to be cultivate tranquility and contentedness now, with what I have, and that it does no good to turn into the kind of person he describes: "The twelve labors of Hercules were trifling in comparison with those which my neighbors have undertaken; for they were only twelve, and had an end; but I could never see that these men slew or captured any monster or finished any labor. They have no friend Iolaus to burn with a hot iron the root of the hydra's head, but as soon as one head is crushed, two spring up."
- mindctrl 15y agoThanks for sharing.