Sunlight poured through the cracked and colored leaves. It was a clear day—bright with only visions of shadows. A simple day—one that Thoreau would have raised his bushy brows, sighed, then hunched his shoulders forward in inspired determination. Then…as the pen scratched, the chipmunks chirp, and the lake is highlighted by the autumn light, a semi-truck blasts his horn.
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately.” Thoreau’s idea in 1845 of simplicity still hovers at Walden Pond. The idea sits pristine, glimmering across the lake. Unattainable. Perhaps he himself never fully grasped simplicity. Is being a hermit a couple miles from home simplifying? It’s different for everyone. He had his mom’s pies every week in any case. That’s enough for me to enjoy the simple life. Yum. Today, roads cut through Thoreau’s forest and dozens of swim caps bob through the sparkling water—but in 1845 the world was different.
I want to simplify my life. But how? Automated billpay? Life seems to be easier in our age. Women can vote now. We can buy groceries, drive, fly, and take a weekend in Venice if wanted. But I still need the reminder to live. Live simply and completely. We have choices available that never were there in 1845. Too many choices? Never. But I will slim down my options to just apple pie please. Thanks mom.
Thoreau’s 1845
• The rubberband is invented in England
• Edgar Allan P0e wrote the Raven
• Anesthesia is used in childbirth for the first time
• Alexander III of Russia was born
• Andrew Jackson died
