I was self-appointed
surveyor of forest paths
keeping them open
For many years I was self-appointed inspector of snow storms and rain storms, and did my duty faithfully; surveyor, if not of highways, then of forest paths and all across-lot routes, keeping them open, and ravines bridged and passable at all seasons, where the public heel had testified to their utility.
In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line. You will pardon some obscurities, for there are more secrets in my trade than in most men’s, and yet not voluntarily kept, but inseparable from its very nature. I would gladly tell all that I know about it, and never paint “No Admittance” on my gate.
For a long time I was reporter to a journal, of no very wide circulation, whose editor has never yet seen fit to print the bulk of my contributions, and, as is too common with writers, I got only my labor for my pains. However, in this case my pains were their own reward.
For eighteen hundred years, though perchance I have no right to say it, the New Testament has been written; yet where is the legislator who has wisdom and practical talent enough to avail himself of the light which it sheds on the science of legislation.
All passages from Walden by Henry David Thoreau (Boston, Ticknor and Fields, 1854).
Wikipedia quotes EB White on Mr. Thoreau, that to write Walden, “Henry went forth to battle when he took to the woods, and Walden is the report of a man torn by two powerful and opposing drives— the desire to enjoy the world and the urge to set the world straight.”
Mr. Thoreau was in his mid 30’s when he went forth to battle.
I am in my mid 60’s and my urge to set the world straight is waning.
My desire to enjoy the world is growing.
That last line I quote from Walden happens to be the very last line of the book.
I can tweak it to read, “For over two thousand years, though perchance I have no right to say it, the New Testament has been written; yet where is the legislator who has wisdom and practical talent enough to avail himself of the light which it sheds on the science of legislation.“
It was Jim Harrison who once wrote along the lines that the United States had passed some 1.5 million laws … trying to enforce the 10 commandments.
It was Mr. Churchill who said in a speech in 1947, “Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
If Mr. Churchill is correct, BOY HOWDY, but do I feel sorry for all those other countries.
Is it any wonder that I embrace my role as a self-appointed inspector of snow storms and rain storms and reporter for my own journal of small circulation.
However, in this case my pains are their own reward.
PS: Thank you to my wife and co-self-appointed-inspector for the photos of our adventure on Widgeon Point, South Carolina.
No Haiku For You 