Henry David Thoreau and Life Essay

In " Life without Principle" Thoreau argues that work should be something we love in order to lead a life worth living, not simply a make a living. The aim of labor should be, not to get his living, to get "a good job," but to perform well a certain work; and, even in an easy sense, it would be making economy for a town to pay its laborers so well that they would not feel that they were working for low ends, as a livelihood, but for scientific, or even moral ends. Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for the love of it. Thoreau is able to get his readers to agree with him because he appeals to our idealistic notions of how nice it would be to love every minute of life, including work. However, Thoreau does not take into account people living in poverty, worrying about things such as paying rent and finding money for children's clothes or school supplies. It is almost naive to conclude that in order to live a fulfilled life we must pursue our own path in finding what it is we truly love, and then work doing that. How can he forget there are people who do not have such freedom and must take a job because it comes with a paycheck? Thoreau not only sat down to write, he also stood up to take positions on the important issues of his time. He wrote and spoke against slavery, and also served as a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad. He refused to pay taxes to a government which, it seemed to him, was waging a pro-slavery war against Mexico. His defense of nature helped to inspire, many decades later, an American environmental movement, and he anticipated the idea of national parks. In his writings and through the example of his life, he denounced "lives without principle." “Life without Principle” “This world is a place of business….It is nothing but work, work, work…” Henry David Thoreau believes that people spend much of their lives in a busy world and never rest. People just work, work, and work. This is true in the story “Life without Principle” written by Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau wants people to examine their lives and ask themselves if they are happy with what they are doing or not doing with their lives. He wants people to experience life and learn the real necessities in life. In today’s society, people spend their lives around their careers. People do not take the

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