2020: the year we acted like we lived in the depression. Staying\nclose to home. Baking sourdough bread. We grew plants from starts and seeds<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I got to know my neighborhood. I watched spring come with\nrains. I saw the baking summer sun crisp the grass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About the time the neighbors started talking about\nbirdcalls, I knew we had travelled even further back in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I picked up Walden.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n My friends and I are looking to find the silver lining in\nthe quarantine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What is really important? Are these material things really what\nwe want? COVID made me think about death and therefore how precious life is. Walden <\/em>does the same. What is really most\nimportant?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\nwent to the woods because I wished to live deliberately\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes. If I am holing up to protect life, what\nam I protecting? What kind of life is a\nlonely solitude? Before I pout too hard about my situation, Thoreau puts the\nchallenge out there. He lays it out: take the time to notice the beauty around\nyou!<\/p>\n\n\n\n He went to the woods because he \u201cwanted\nto live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even in the shutdown, there is marrow to\nsuck. There are skies and plants to observe, simple skills to practice and alternate\npaths to try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is richness in the things I have\npassed over. The sun in the sky is a marvel. I have learned to observe it in\nways I never have before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Big cities\u2014New York, San Francisco\u2014they are hollowing out.\nPeople are taking their lessons from the lockdown and moving house. Sacramento\nand Salt Lake City are filling up with new neighbors. Now that people can\nchoose, can do their work from their homes, they are changing the homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thoreau and his Transcendental buddies. were quite thrilled\nwith finding new classics, and making up their own minds<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLet\nthe reports of all the learned societies come to us and we will see if they\nknow anything\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sounds like the internet to me. I want to know all the\nthings the world has to offer, and I delight in new ideas. I love to be the one\nto make up my own mind about their value.\n\n\n\nI don\u2019t have to live by the expected wisdom.\nThis is a time to explore and make up my own mind. The whole world awaits.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 2020: the year we acted like we lived in the depression. Staying close to home. Baking sourdough bread. We grew plants from starts and seeds I got to know my neighborhood. I watched spring come with rains. I saw the … Continue reading