Walden Pond

When Chris and I went on our trip to the east coast to see baseball parks, we wanted to include a few other non-basebally things as well, so we asked our friends and co-workers what we should see and do. Chris’ boss suggested that we go to Walden Pond which was only a few miles outside of Boston (I should mention that Chris’ boss is a brilliant lawyer who went to Harvard and thus knew all about the area including Walden Pond). I had read the book by Henry David Thoreau in high school and knew the history of the place. Mr. Thoreau had decided that he wanted to see if he could be totally self-sufficient so he built himself a tiny cabin near the pond and thought deep thoughts for two years as he relied on no one but himself. Over all, I thought that it was somewhat pretentious and stuffy, but it was an interesting idea and you can’t help but admire him a little for giving it a shot. So when we were in Boston, we decided to rent a car and drive out there to see where the fellow had spent his solitary two years. As we neared the pond, we found that cars were backed up along the road at least a half a mile from the pond. We were really confused because, honestly, how many people really read Walden these day and out of those people, who really wants to take the time to visit the pond (I suppose Chris and I are a little silly). As we sat in traffic, we noticed that people were walking around with picnic baskets and in their bathing suits. We couldn’t figure out what was going on until we arrived at the pond. It turns out that it is no longer a place for intellectuals to sit and contemplate. The whole place is more like a beach party. We had to pay $5 to park our car in a giant parking lot, we walked past a gift shop to get to the pond, and people were swimming and playing in the pond, with proper lifeguard supervision, of course. And the only contemplating I saw going on was from me, thinking about how Thoreau would be rolling in his grave if he knew what was going on. Much as he would have hated it, Chris and I couldn’t help but laugh. And when Chris got back to his office and told his boss that we had gone there on his suggestion, he said “wasn’t it awesome! ”

This is what we were expecting.

This is what we saw.