Thursday, March 04, 2010

Quiet Desperation

In 1854, Henry David Thoreau wrote, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."* Though 156 years have passed, it still holds true. Even today, despite the advances in technology and entertainment, most men still lead lives of quiet desperation. We wake, we work, watch a little TV, then go to sleep, only to do the same thing over again tomorrow. And the next day. And the next.

Cap Makers

We want to make an impact. We want to make a difference, yet few of us really do. We live our lives desperate to serve a purpose. Desperate to find a reason for our being. Yet, for most of us, that reason never comes. We seem to live just to make it from one day to the next.

Demonstration of Total workers in Dunkerque

We live. We die. Our bodies return to the dust from which they were formed. And a few generations hence, no one will remember that we ever even existed.

2008 Heritage Open Days Go On All Over England


*Walden

1 comment:

Slop -n- Goulash: Dinner of Champions! said...

Oh, Becky, how depressing! Seriously, we ALL make a difference and someone, somewhere will always be impacted by something we did or who we are. I usually take the pessimistic road. I have a plaque in my office that says "Blessed are those who expect nothing for they are not disappointed" and I live by that. Really I do. I expect the worst and then if things go my way instead, I consider it a bonus. But truly, altho I love - make that LOVE your blog, you really have it all wrong this time. WE ALL DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!