On Chapter Two "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For" (Assignment Two)

“For my part, I could easily do without the post-office. I think that there are very few important communications made through it” (Atkinson 89). That is an unambiguous statement. If you transferred this into the year 2014 a lot of people would agree, some of them would not even know what a post-office does. Those are people living outside of “superpower nations”[1] or not even in countries that are in whatever aspect linked to a “superpower nation”. Those people often reside in rural areas where they probably maintain traditions of their great-grandfathers. Those people embrace a set of priorities that differs from the one the Western Society, the “superpower nations” have implemented. 

Thoreau says that he could live without the medium of his time but in fact he does not offer abandoning any contact with it. I suggest that these are first signs of an attitude that (almost) everybody knows who lives in a “superpower nation”: I really would like to do this, but I do not because I can. I would like to be a vegetarian but I am not because I can eat meat. I would like to sell my car and never go by plane anymore for the sake of nature, but I do not because I can. I would like to use less water but I do not because I can. I would like to take my child out of school to teach her at home so she learns whatever she is genuinely interested in, but I do not because I can. I really would like to donate one of my kidneys to help someone else but I do not because I can. This list can be carried on extensively. What if you can’t say no? What if the area around the pond where Thoreau lived became an island due to tectonic plate movement and he including his house and crop would float into the wide ocean where no one would ever search for him?[2] This would instantly be his reality. Similar to “Cast Away” in which Tom Hanks experiences the same as Robinson Crusoe did in the homonymous book. He would not be able to escape his situation; he would have to cope with it instead. Would he be wishing for the post-office? Would he miss the mere possibility to inform himself about news in the USA and the world?

If Thoreau would have found a way to come into our year he would probably be equally impressed by the millions of senseless things consisting of plastic that pollute the environment and kill our children when they swallow them as he would not be impressed by how few progress men have made despite all their accomplishments. He would feel reassured with the findings of his experiment. And again, we can add points to the list above: I would like to use canvas shopping bags in lieu of plastic bags but I do not because I can. I would like to let my children explore nature and let them use their fantasy to create the greatest adventures of their childhood but I do not because I allow everybody including me to give them Lego and Barbie as birthday gifts.
Among the gigantic assortment of products in our world, in the Western World, what can you, yes you who is reading this right now, declare as substantially necessary? I believe that parts of this world are living a culture of exuberance. Other parts possess less than we do, but are they thus less content than we are? Although we seem to have more than we need in someone’s eyes why are we complaining unceasingly?

A brief word concerning social media: if we would only communicate in the way Thoreau wishes for, Facebook would be offline in an instant. He has uttered a truth so extraordinarily concise – and it is even more outstanding when you consider that he has written “Walden” 160 years ago! – that you might deem Western people never changed during this time span. “After a night’s sleep the news is as indispensable as the breakfast” (Atkinson 89).

Works cited:

Atkinson, Brooks, ed. Walden and Other Writings. New York: The Modern Library, 2000. Print.

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[1] Here I mean states like the USA, China, Russia, Europe as a whole and similar countries.

[2] I am aware that the pond lies not even near an edge of the North American Plate but let us just assume it would so this event could happen.