excuse me while I state the obvious
I think kids read Thoreau in high school, don't they? Or at least they used to? I don't know what kids are taught in high school, never having gone, but I remember reading
Walden a very long time ago—certainly long enough ago that I didn't truly "get" it.
But boy oh boy, after living and working in Silicon Valley for the last twelve-ish years, I get it. I also get that I'm not a complete whack job for being miserable the entire time (ok, not the
entire time, but there's definitely a big ol' cloud of negativity and crap that hangs over me at all times—just ask my boss).
So as I sit here, preparing my presentation on servitude and slavery in "Economy" from
Walden, I got the idea of carrying my marked-up copy around with me so I can point to specific passages as proof that I'm not a horrible person—just one who feels
exactly like Thoreau described with regards to the type of person he was trying not to be.
I really should make more of a concerted effort to reread the stuff I read as a youth. I wonder what else I'd find?
