Sunday, March 22, 2009

Thank God for the Spring!


Already three days into the spring season -- thank God! -- I decided to post some good old notes from Henry David Thoreau's seminal text, Walden.

A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts. We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it; and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our duty. We loiter in winter while it is already spring. In a pleasant spring morning all men's sins are forgiven. Such a day is a truce to vice. While such a sun holds out to burn, the vilest sinner may return. Through our own recovered innocence we discern the innocence of our neighbors. You may have known your neighbor yesterday for a thief, a drunkard, or a sensualist, and merely pitied or despised him, and despaired of the world; but the sun shines bright and warm this first spring morning, recreating the world, and you meet him at some serene work, and see how his exhausted and debauched veins expand with still joy and bless the new day, feel the spring influence with the innocence of infancy, and all his faults are forgotten.
-- Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)

In the above excerpt, the writer reflects on the beauties of the season.

Like mine, Thoreau's mood is brightened by the spring. While he's at Walden, Thoreau compares the vivacity of the spring with all that's right in the world.

Spring, then, becomes a time of rejuvenation.

Thoreau announces that spring is a time of refreshing, a time in which men are moved with compassion to forgive others of their debts or transgressions.

In the spring, he points out, even one's worst enemy is seen with a change of heart and given the benefit of the doubt.

In the spring, Thoreau says, nature is truly alive -- plants are blossoming, animals come out of hibernation.

Thank God, the winter is over! For me, it was cold and cruel.

Hello, spring -- thank God for the change in seasons!


2 comments:

  1. This is great, Trev! Nothing like some Thoreau to bring in the spring. Thanks for posting this.

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  2. Thanks, bro! Those classes with Dr. Meredith paid off, lol.

    ReplyDelete