11.05.2006

Thoreau's Journal: 05-Nov-1857

For a man to pride himself on this kind of wealth, as if it enriched him, is as ridiculous as if one struggling in the ocean with a bag of gold on his back should gasp out, “I am worth a hundred thousand dollars!” I see his ineffectual struggles just as plainly, and what it is that sinks him.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

As I pedal down the streets of Marquette, I just fit between the passing cars and the parked cars, but as I look ahead a Hummer sits parked, I find myself breaking as to not get hit by the cars that are passing me on the left. I wonder how enriched this person truly is that drives this vehicle. The wind at my face as I look to the full moon, without the glare of a windshield and all the illuminated controls, surely is worth more...

donw said...

Henry, as you wrote on people and their lavish houses or want of the same, leading to bankruptcy - This lusting after still more luxurious homes and horseless carriages and still more trendy material junk - is leading to the bankruptcy of our planet. What your industrial revolution started has lead to far worse excesses by almost all of us today. That's what sinks our planet.