{"id":31568,"date":"2024-12-13T05:00:29","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T10:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=31568"},"modified":"2024-12-12T20:50:43","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T01:50:43","slug":"the-mass-of-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/13\/the-mass-of-men\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mass of Men"},"content":{"rendered":"

Henry David Thoreau said, \u201cThe mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things..<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m the quietest (or the loudest) of individuals.\u00a0 And as for desperation and resignation that seems a bit much.\u00a0 For most people work can be a rat race but, is what we do just resignation?\u00a0 I hope not.\u00a0 Now, sure, we all have to reach that endpoint and when that gets a lot closer, desperation and resignation start to sound more fitting, more apt.\u00a0 But Thoreau said the mass of men.\u00a0 Well, most men aren\u2019t about to face death.\u00a0 We get a decent shot at a pretty decent span; \u201cthree score and ten\u201d the Bible says.<\/p>\n

And even when the end is in sight isn\u2019t there any consolation in reflecting on the fact that you spent your life doing what you thought was best?\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s a matter of temperament.\u00a0 I guess Thoreau was a product of Yankee New England upbringing.\u00a0 And those people have always seemed a little cold and humorless for my taste.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s a combination of puritanism and bad weather but they always seemed like they just bit into something that tasted bad (or maybe it was their reaction at seeing me).\u00a0 Maybe I\u2019m just naturally cheerful.\u00a0 Call it my Mediterranean predisposition but I just think that every story has a happy ending.\u00a0 And this even though I look around me in every direction and I see wrack and ruin out to the horizon.\u00a0 And sure, when it\u2019s time to start hauling away the wreckage I\u2019ll swear and grumble and complain.\u00a0 But I\u2019ll still look forward to a lunch break and quitting time.\u00a0 And then there has to be some human joy somewhere in that mess.<\/p>\n

I know some people who live the other way.\u00a0 And they are quite a bit better off than I am.\u00a0 That grim determination has its advantages.\u00a0 You can stuff a 401k plan with quite a lot of money if you\u2019re grimly determined.\u00a0 And maybe they will have an easier time of it at that last stand knowing that everything is paid for.\u00a0 I guess it\u2019s kind of the Cheops or Ozymandias option.\u00a0 But it still feels kind of grim to me.<\/p>\n

So, I like to think that most of us try to live lives of quiet or not so quiet inspiration mixed with perspiration.\u00a0 I think the guy who said, \u201cWhere there\u2019s life there\u2019s hope\u201d had it right.\u00a0 While there\u2019s still blood pumping through your veins and air being sucked into your lungs there\u2019s hope and more than hope.\u00a0 There\u2019s at least a little excitement.\u00a0 Even if you\u2019re a hundred there\u2019s still the challenge of trying to get on your feet and remembering what it is you have to do to keep breathing that day.\u00a0 And until that gets to be too much for your spirit you have a reason to greet the day.<\/p>\n

And if you still have anyone in your life who cares whether you live or die you\u2019ve got a world outside yourself to think about.\u00a0 Maybe people call that quiet desperation.\u00a0 Or maybe I\u2019m the exception.\u00a0 Maybe I\u2019ve just been blessed with much more than the mass of men have.\u00a0 But I kind of doubt it.\u00a0 I\u2019m just an average guy with the average life.\u00a0 Well, except for Camera Girl.\u00a0 She\u2019s pretty great.\u00a0 But don\u2019t tell her.\u00a0 She might demand a better contract.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Henry David Thoreau said, \u201cThe mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3366,818,1263],"tags":[1267,4634],"class_list":["post-31568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-life-in-dunwich","category-ocf","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","tag-photogs-corner","tag-secret-of-life"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Mass of Men - Orion's Cold Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/13\/the-mass-of-men\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Mass of Men - Orion's Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Henry David Thoreau said, \u201cThe mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. 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