Henry David Thoreau And Self Reliance Essay

, Research Paper

Henry David Thoreau decided at a relatively young age

to use his life as an experiment in self-education . His optimistic

views on life and his goal-oriented lifestyle is reflected in his

writing. In Where I Lived, and What I Lived For , Thoreau writes

about his appreciation for his tattered little abode, which was only

a defense against the outer environmental elements. Though the wind

blows through the house, he hears it as though it were a song from

the gods on Olympus. He recognizes his misfortunes, and is content

with the way things are. In a lot of ways, Thoreau reminds me of how

I wish I could be, and how Ralph Waldo Emerson encourages the entire

human race to be. Thoreau focused his life around only the essential

things, and lived as though life was a reflection of an inner

spiritual reality. Thoreau lived the way he did, in search of what it

truly is that men live for. Simplicity was his only necessity. It is

my understanding that throughout American history, our authors and

poets were typically philosophers who spent their lives in attempts

to better the lives of others by conquering that which affects us

negatively. Thoreau was such a man. We do not ride on the railroad;

it rides upon us . It is in this statement that Thoreau portrays that

people as a society make decisions, and we can either decide to sit

and ponder the day away in attempts to make our lives better, or work

away our lives. But if we do not get out leepers, and forge rails,

and devote days and nights to work, but go tinkering upon our lives

to improve them, who will build the railroads?