If you went to high school or college in the 1960s, you were probably stuck reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau. He hung out around this little pond in Massachusetts and wrote about how man was being harmed by mixing with society and its institutions. I didn’t like Henry David that much. How can you trust a guy whose best friend is named Ralph Waldo?
Anyway, I thought his famous line, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” was a bunch of bunk. Here’s a man cavorting around with butterflies, frogs and grasshoppers, spending time in jail for not paying his taxes, and I’m supposed to revere his notions about how normal people lead their lives?
Most of my friends encountered numerous challenges before reaching their 70s and figured out ways of coping with and/or defeating the obstacles that stood in their way. By not hiding out, they are leading productive, meaningful lives.
Henry David didn’t bump into many men strolling around Walden Pond.
My hunch is, he was the one leading a life of quiet desperation.