Drowning in a Glass Half Empty
Wearily walking into the lobby of my residence hall, a group of my classmates gathered to embark on a pilgrimage through Poly Canyon. We meandered over to our rendezvous with our professor on a gravel road sided by a grove of eucalyptus trees rising up like a rib cage. I doubted that this was going to be anything like what Henry David Thoreau intended in his essay “Walking,” when he described walking as being “absolutely free from all worldly engagements.” If one frees oneself from worldly engagements, one may journey into mindfulness, a state of total awareness of being. We had a guide, we were a class, and we brought with us society. I carried a backpack with pen and paper, a sweatshirt, and cynicism heavier than the fog we drudged through.
Campus housing structures disappeared behind us, and we were on a road winding around hills. I observed sprinklers watering dead grass, telephone wires cutting through trees, and a dumpster full of waste, worsened by a car passing through our ensemble. We had a ways to go before we could get away from civilization.
My pessimism deepened as I listened to my classmates chatter in awe about deer on the hillside and heard our professor mention a toxic waste controversy. One deer stood majestically atop the hill, its dark, shadowy outline nearly transparent in the dense fog, while two others eyed us with less interest than we eyed them. I had seen more deer on a public golf course the day before. One of my classmates began her narrative aloud, adding to the worldly engagements I wished to remove myself from. Moving on, I passed under a stone arch onto a trail where I sat and wrote down my thoughts; drawing ...
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...each, looking out to sea. Birds chirped, cows mooed, cameras clicked, and an oddly calming and reassuring white noise of car traffic were all audible. I was alone.
In the end, my cynicism is fog. I couldn’t have enjoyed the walk as much as I did without overcoming my negativity; moreover, I couldn’t have appreciated the beauty of the fog without walking above it, to look upon it in its entirety. I sauntered, walking towards a holy land. I gained mindfulness through looking at the bowl of milk that was Poly Canyon submerged in fog, focusing on every breath and each step upon ancient rock, feeling the dew from bunch grass cool the pokes of yucca bush, and traveling to a new place in body and spirit. I undertook a pilgrimage despite fighting it the best I could. Walking gradually beat my cynicism, as the morning sun slowly withered away the fog.
"Everyone is influenced by their childhood. The things I write about and illustrate come from a vast range of inputs, from the earliest impressions of a little child, others from things I saw yesterday and still others from completely out of the blue, though no doubt they owe their arrival to some stimulus, albeit unconscious. I have a great love of wildlife, inherited from my parents, which show through in my subject matter, though always with a view to the humorous—not as a reflective device but as a reflection of my own fairly happy nature.
Chris McCandless does not wish to follow defined life structure that society enforces to simply be alive, instead, he chooses to take a seek a path to live a life with purpose. Such an eagerness to seek detachment from what is expected by society, is enforced by not only McCandless but also Thoreau. A primary factor resembling this, is McCandless’ view that many people “live within unhappy circumstances...yet will not change…they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism...damaging to the adventurous spirit(40).” The detesting tone risen through the confliction of “unhappy circumstances” and “damage,” to “safety, conformity and conservation,” emphasis his will to separate from a lifestyle lacking change. This is done
When thinking about the transcendental period and/or about individuals reaching out and submerging themselves in nature, Henry David Thoreau and his book, Walden, are the first things that come to mind. Unknown to many, there are plenty of people who have braved the environment and called it their home during the past twenty years, for example: Chris McCandless and Richard Proenneke. Before diving into who the “modern Thoreaus” are, one must venture back and explore the footprint created by Henry Thoreau.
In his world-famous thought-provoking novel, Walden, Henry David Thoreau presents his readers with a simple, inspirational guide for living. Written beside the beautiful Walden pond and completely surrounded by an unencumbered natural world, Thoreau writes about his own relationship with the beauty that surrounds him. His book provides an outlet for everyone to learn from his lessons learned in nature, whether they be city-dwellers or his own neighbors. One of Thoreau's most prominent natural lessons running throughout his novel is that of his deeply rooted sense of himself and his connection with the natural world. He relates nature and his experiences within it to his personal self rather than society as a whole. Many times in the novel, Thoreau urges his readers to break away from their societal expectations and to discover for themselves a path that is not necessarily the one most trodden. He explains that everyone should "be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought (341)." Walden inspires its readers to break out of the mold of tradition, away from outwardly imposed expectations, and out of the loyalty to society over loyalty to oneself in order to find truth and self in nature.
Provisions to expand Medicaid are central to legislation aiming to eliminate racial inequities. Minorities make up about one-third of the population, but account for over half of the total 47 million uninsured. This is a reflection of racialized economic structures that leave many minorities unable to afford insurance or access employer-based coverage. The ACA attempts to decrease the rate of uninsured for low-income individuals and families by expanding Medicaid to adults with incomes at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty line. Although this provision will help to expand coverage to some of the nations poorest individuals, the Supreme Court’s Decision to leave the choice to expand up to the states has a serious impact on the b...
One strength of his article is that it can easily elicit an emotional response from the more sympathetic readers and outdoor enthusiasts. Duane appeals to pathos when first setting the scene of a day in the wilderness. He describes what it would be like if one had the “good fortune” to spot a Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep in the wild. He writes, “You unwrap a chocolate bar amid breathtaking views . . . the sight fills you with awe and also with gratitude for the national parks, forests, and yes, environmental regulations that keep the American dream of wilderness alive” (Duane 1). For the audience that connects to this emotional appeal, this instantly draws them in to the article and can arouse feelings of amazement and wonder toward the sight described. It can likewise leave readers wondering whether or not this scene is truly so perfect. This statement can also appear too dramatic for those less passionate. When Duane writes, “The sight fills you with . . . gratitude for the . . . yes, environmental regulations that keep the American dream of wilderness alive,” it seems almost untrue, as most people do not think twice about the environmental regulations that keep animals in their
One of the most controversial topics in the United States in recent years has been the route which should be undertaken in overhauling the healthcare system for the millions of Americans who are currently uninsured. It is important to note that the goal of the Affordable Care Act is to make healthcare affordable; it provides low-cost, government-subsidized insurance options through the State Health Insurance Marketplace (Amadeo 1). Our current president, Barack Obama, made it one of his goals to bring healthcare to all Americans through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. This plan, which has been termed “Obamacare”, has come under scrutiny from many Americans, but has also received a large amount of support in turn for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include a decrease in insurance discrimination on the basis of health or gender and affordable healthcare coverage for the millions of uninsured. The opposition to this act has cited increased costs and debt accumulation, a reduction in employer healthcare coverage options, as well as a penalization of those already using private healthcare insurance.
Nemeroff, Charles B., et. el. (2003) Differential Responses to Psychotherapy versus pharmacotherapy in Patients with Chronic Forms of Major Depression. National Academy of Sciences, v100, i24, pg.142(4)
Medicaid is a broken system that is largely failing to serve its beneficiary’s needs. Despite its chronic failures to deliver quality health care, Medicaid is seemingly running up a gigantic tab for tax payers (Frogue, 2003). Medicaid’s budget woes are secondary to its insignificant structure, leaving its beneficiaries with limited choices, when arranging for their own health care. Instead, regulations are set in order to drive costs down; instead of allowing Medicaid beneficiaries free rein to choose whom they will seek care from (Frogue, 2003)
It has never been an uncommon thing for one to retreat to nature in an attempt to ‘find one’s self,’ and somewhat cliché these days is the retreat to nature to ‘find God.’ Hundreds of books, essays, seminars, and retreats devote themselves to helping one understand how to find enlightenment and healing through connecting with nature. It is a phenomenon that transcends religious boundaries—everyone, from Buddhists to Christian Mystics to Quakers, seems to think that the key (or, at least, one of the keys) to enlightenment lies in nature. As one may suppose, this is not a new concept. Throughout literary history, there is a distinct trend of authors praising the virtues of nature, singing of the peace that it brings and the enlightening attributes of these places away from the noise and clutter of the cities. Shakespeare tells of finding “tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, [and] sermons in stone”(Shakespeare); William Wordsworth implores us to let nature be our teacher; Goethe claims that there is rest and respite on the mountain top; and George Washington Carver admits that he tries commune with nature everyday. It seems that from Henry David Thoreau right down to contemporary authors, no generation or writing period has been devoid of at least one prolific author who takes to nature in order to find the answers.
Thoreau’s experiment was to prove living a simple life was possible and preferable. However, the serenity he sought was taint...
Rupke, S., Blecke, D., & Renfrow, M. (2006, January 1). Cognitive therapy for depression. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16417069?dopt=Abstract
Beck, A. (1978). Cognitive therapy of depression (The Guildford Clinical Psychology and psychopathology series). New York, N.Y : Guildford Press.
Through this account of his spiritual experiment and journey, Thoreau demonstrates key transcendentalist themes. Beginning by pointing out the problem of self-alienation, Thoreau expresses the need for spiritual re-awakening. Through the pursuit of solitude, simplicity, and introspection, his journey leads him to discovery of the divine in himself and the world around him. While his ultimate solution must be rejected by Christians, his candid observations of the human condition are chilling. Walden stands as a beautiful but tragic monument to the phenomenon of American transcendentalism.
and children younger than 15 years old in the United States. I know many of