Old Farts, Like Thoreau And Thompson

Every now and again I am tempted to thumb my nose at this world of modern convenience. Knowing that I come from a long line of social nose thumbers might help you understand this statement but I suspect that a lot of people would do the same if they weren't so addicted to their at home comforts.

If you knew what I spent on a cell phone every month you'd probably laugh and I would too if it didn't hurt so much. I know that as little as five years ago (maybe six) I didn't have a cell phone and life was pretty good. I also lived in an apartment in which the cable hadn't been turned off from the last guy and the heating was covered by the rent. This represents a significant dollar amount when you add it all up. So what's a boy to do? Well, the heat I need, and if my car breaks down on the highway I'll want the cell phone and without the Internet connection we wouldn't be having this conversation. That leaves the cable, but quite frankly, if I don't keep up what's happening in the world of forensics I'll never be able to represent myself at trial, and that could come in handy.

In the July of 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved into a one room cabin on the shore of Walden Pond. His patron aspect to modern ecology is renowned, but his intention was nothing more than a wish to return to a simpler mode of living. For two years he lived there, documenting his daily rambles through the woods and despite his reputation as a hermit was quite often in the village, only a mile and a half away. He simply lived simply. At the time he was seen as a bit of a nut. The most distant journey he ever made was to Philadelphia and a large part of his reputation as a great American author stem from papers on birds, trees and shrubs. So be it.

The question I pose is that can one live simply while remaining a part of society? Without a cell phone, a computer and a television I couldn't tell you anything about the world that I didn't see with my own eyes or read in a book. I wouldn't be aware that Hamas now runs Palestine or that China has finished their railroad to Tibet or how many people were gunned down on the streets of Rochester last night. Maybe these things aren't important in the grand scheme of things.

After my father made his own break with society he developed, as a by product, an uneasiness towards the wide world. He was uncomfortable driving on city streets and covered his shell-shocked psyche with an aversion to modern technologies unless they could somehow help him heat his house for free and otherwise help him get off the grid. My wonder at this behavior, at the time, came from a sense that he had given up on humanity. He had given up the social fabric, only able to deal with people one or two at a time. I didn't see it as a move to free himself from the contraints by which he felt the modern world impinged his freedom to act as he liked but rather as removing himself from a situation he could no longer control and use to his own advantage. In short, I believed he simply ran away.

From the vantage point of today I see things a little differently. I, myself, have had occasion to want to retreat from a world that is winding itself, one way, 'round the tether-ball pole. From a social studies point of view it may be that this is nature's way to tell me to get the hell out of the way if I don't want to play. There are very interesting studies out there about the burn out effect of too much interaction with.........people. In New York City, on an average day, you can expect to come into contact with many thousands of people in one afternoon and the psychological effects from this results in something clearly paranoid and anti-social. This is a relatively small town, however, and I'm not done playing yet. So for now the cell phone stays and so does the computer. I might get rid of the cable but simply because I can't remember the last time it actually taught me anything or even entertained me. And I suppose I'll have to shave off this scratchy beard and maybe go outside. By the way, does anyone know where you can buy those old fashioned bic razors with only one blade? Yeah, I know they make those fancy ones now with seven blades and tilting heads and whatever, but you just can't beat those bics. I tells ya, in my day........