The Best Article

My favorite article was "Where I lived, and what I lived for" because I agreed with most of his points on life. Although he does not actually do his adventures that he writes about, he lives through his work. Many writers don't live through what their article says to. He does not have an introduction and conclusion like Emerson, he jumps right into his story. The way the whole article is written is completely different from Emerson's writing and easier to follow. In class students commented that he was an "ADD writer" and that he goes off on tangents, he simply gives reason to his arguments. Thoreau starts off with him seen as a real-estate broker. He looks at houses, almost buys them, then skips out on it because really he doesn't have the money. He writes that he takes the most important part with him though. He walked all over the land, imagined his future with it, and enjoyed it. That is the most you can get from land. Then he writes that he goes out into the wilderness and lives in a cabin. He enjoys the simplicity and the nature of it. "I got up early and bathed in the pond... Renew thyself completely each day; do it again and again and forever again...Morning brings back the heroic ages...The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour." Then Thoreau states that most people are not awake and they should be. "The millions are awake enough for physical labor; but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred millions to a poetic or divine life. To be awake is to be alive." Recently I have been having this gnawing thought that I am not living to my fullest potential, no one in my life is. I don't want to grow up, go to college, have a family, then die. I want to do something with my life that helps society. This thought almost makes me stressed out; I am wasting precious time everyday. The first thing I need to do is to wake up, daily. This excerpt from this article is my favorite section that I have ever read. I completely agree with it. Most people are awake enough to live, but to live and be alive are different. I urge all of us to be awakened. The last disposition that Thoreau has is against news. All news is gossip. "We never need read of another. One is enough." Humans should only need to read of a murder once, and we should learn from it. However, we don't, the constant news helps keeps us in check. It enlightens us with what is happening around the world. But all news is the same. If one was to live like a hermit, news would not change the persons life unless directly effected. All news is gossip.