"Here is life, an experiment to a great extent untried by me" (848).
I loved reading Thoreau; I hadn't previously, but now I think I understand him better. I especially love the part under "Economy" where he talks about living. Thoreau is saying how much we depend on other people's experiences to guide our own. Too often do we take the road most traveled because it is what we know. What our parents knew and our grandparents. How often do we truly strike out on our own to discover something new? Life--an experiment, a personal experiment--is too often dictated by others.
My life is like this. I do what I'm expected to do and what I'm told to do. I think many of us are this way. Why did I go to college? Why do I play sports? Why do I read the books I do? Is it truly because I want to or am I following a path that was laid out for me long before I realized it? Who am I trying to impress? Why do I care if I'm "successful"?
Everyone's answers to these questions will be different. Some people are doing exactly what they want to do. Kudos. Some people aren't. Perhaps not a personal fault--perhaps a cultural one.
"The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind. Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others?" (853).
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