Necessary evil Essay Example for Free

Necessary evil Essay The book Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, is a book he wrote about the two years and a half years he lived in Walden’s Pond. He went to the area to do some deep thinking and to try to figure out what he wanted from his life. He lived in the middle of a large patch of land. He took the bare necessities with him and using his hands and a few tools, built himself a small cabin. He loved to walk all over the place and watch the people. He was friendly with the people of the town but did not really socialize with them. One of the things he wrote a lot about in the book was how people became slaves to their desires. He existed on very little and back stocked nothing. He would gather food or do odd jobs and then do nothing until he needed food again. He thought that if people were much less materialistic, they would not need to work as hard to get what they thought would make them happy. He noted that most of tine people worked and worked to get material things and then had to work even harder to get more and it became a vicious circle. He thought a trade was closer to slavery because you never got out of the loop of working and gathering and working some more. He scoffed at the idea of slave owners being free because they worked harder than anyone to keep what they had. Thoreau believed that the simple life was the best and that anyone who wanted true happiness needed to take stock of their possessions and figure out what they really needed and what they just wanted instead. I agree with Thoreau that most people are much too materialistic and should slow down. We live in a world where technology is racing ahead faster than ever and whatever you buy is the old model as soon as you get it. It is easy to get caught up in the wanting of better things and I can see why he thought that we can become slaves to our own material wants rather in our actual needs. It is too easy to go along with fashion and trends in order to popular only to find out we are working more than we are doing anything just to keep getting these things. Thoreau believed that a lot of crime was related to some people being rich and others being poor. I am sure this has always been a part of why people turn to crime but I don’t agree that it is the main reason. There are plenty of honest poor people and even more dishonest rich people. Some poor steal to survive and they are not proud of it but it is a necessary evil. Some poor refuse to commit crimes regardless of the circumstances. There are rich people who will cheat and steal simply to amuse themselves. Some wealthy people commit crimes to further their wealth. I think it is the character of the person that decides whether or not they will lead a life of crime and not always their background. I do agree that we should slow down and enjoy life rather than race through it and that if you lead a good life then anything you have done was well worth the effort even if you never get rich.