Modern Day Thoreau

Henry Thoreau was an American writer, naturalist, and philosopher among other things. He was a big advocate of simple living and his most famous work of literature came from when he retreated to Walden Pond to "escape" society.
This whole thought process started when I was chatting with Justin the other day via Facebook and he said he had gotten rid of his computer for the time being and I called him a "Modern day Thoreau". However it the conversation got me thinking and realizing just how often we really mix up want and necessity in life. And just how of a hold much society (media, culture, family, and education) on swaying this misconception. It is not a fine line. We very clearly do not need our computers, phones, or microwaves, but we sometimes have our faces too close to the screen to see the picture clearly. We are a mircowave generation, we want everything here and now, we want it easy, and fast.
I am not saying at all that we should rid our lives of everything digital, but I must say it is an interesting subject to think about with many wonderful tangents. An something that Justin said in our previous conversation has been stuck in my head... he said: "I must say life has been a lot less boring..."
All this to say that after reading up about Thoreau abit, he has much more of my respect and I find him a lot more interesting then I remember him to be in English class. And I definitely think that it has been refreshing to remind myself just what is a nescessity in life and what is simply there for enjoyment and easyness sake.

You inspire me Justin.
Thoughts?



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau <---an article I read about Thoreau to avoid plagerism.. =)