An "Essay"

This is my first essay where I have the complete freedom to do whatever I want and I’m looking forward to it. Not really but for the purpose of sounding good I’ll say I’m excited and I’ll be enthusiastic for the rest of this essay. I don’t have to follow any rubrics or worry about a thesis statement and the freedom feels great. In other words, I don’t have to be a machine haha get it. Anyway I just think the best way for me to do this assignment is to just get a few quotes, analyze and make some connections to my own life and hopefully reach 600 words. How’s that for a thesis statement. 

"I have lived some thirty years on this planet, and I have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors. They have told me nothing, and probably cannot tell me anything to the purpose. Here is life, an experiment to a great extent untried by me; but it does not avail me that they have tried it."

First of all I think that this is an incredible quote because it’s 64 words so take that. My favorite line is when he compares life to an experiment. It really puts everything into a very interesting perspective. I love how Thoreau writes and what he writes about because it is very relatable. There have been countless times in my life where I have had adhere to the "because I said so" B.S. that my parents always pull on me. We aren’t on equal platforms is what they say, if I yell at you and you yell at me then you have to apologize first always. It’s ridiculous. I guess maybe with parents its different because I’m supposed to be respectful because they buy everything for me and love me and work really hard every day for me, but I don’t see why I always have to listen to their advice. The "because I said so" thing doesn’t bother me nearly as much as when they give my advice (keyword advice) and then if I don’t listen they say I’m being disrespectful. If they are always gonna get mad at me for not listening to their advice then it shouldn’t be formulated as advice. The worst part of all of it that makes me the most mad is that their advice is always right and my parents do not hold back on rubbing it in. So I guess this whole paragraph was a whole pointless complaint where I made statements and then proceeded to prove myself wrong. I’m glad I got it out of my system on paper though because my parents have really been bothering me lately with their stupid authority. 

"Actually, the laboring man has not leisure for a true integrity day by day; he cannot afford to sustain the manliest relations to men; his labor would be depreciated in the market. He has no time to be anything but a machine."

To be honest I don’t really get this quote. However I am really enjoying this assignment even though I tried to make a joke in the first paragraph about not actually liking it, I’m having fun. I’ve gotten to contradict my self multiple times on multiple topics and I have used like one comma and that feels pretty good, even though I will go back and add some in. The way I am interpreting this quote is that its saying people are becoming more and more inhuman and relying on routine. Get up, go to work/school, get home, eat, sleep repeat. Lots of people live their lives this way because they have no choice, a lot of times it’s only people who can afford to have every day be different who aren’t like machines, but in order to be successful and make money, you have to form habits and rituals for everyday, otherwise you will be spending too much time on things that aren’t work and in our society that’s not really accepted if you want make money to feed your family. Since so many people live their lives this way I think it connects to the previous quote which talks about how Thoreau believes that age doesn’t bring knowledge unless you have been living your life a certain way. If an old person has been living their whole life robotically and they don’t take they team to look around, learn and change then they haven’t really gained any knowledge from experience. In other words those people are so focused on their usual habits that they don’t learn new things every day or gain knowledge because everyday is the same. 

I just successfully wrote about 200 words in five minutes. That’s why most of that last paragraph is just me rambling and rambling and it may be pretty boring to read because I just said what I wanted with no guidelines. I can see how being a writer would be a pretty meditative and interesting job because it’s so free. Even if a writer never gets very successful, I truly believe it makes you a happier person. It’s the perfect way to vent and get a point across. This was my favorite assignment of the year and I hope we do a few more of these, even though I know we can’t to an unlimited amount. On to my math homework.