“My God! A whole country of us who only want to be liked!” (pg 13)  Henry David Thoreau, an individual to the last, despised the notion of doing something just so that the world would be happy. The play The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, shows just how individual he is among his fellows. He had distinct opinions on nature and education, just as I do on most things in my life.

“But a man—presumably wiser than a daffodil—can beat so loudly on the eardrums that nobody hears what he's trying to say.” (pg 40) Human beings, supposedly the smartest animals on the planet, sometimes don't show themselves worthy of that title. They talk so much about absolutely nothing that what they're really trying to get across gets lost in the mindless babble. Thoreau knew this, but even his words, and meaning, got swept away by the times, ignored by the people he was trying to talk to. He found more meaning with the flowers he planted than with the people he interacted with, but still went out and tried to make them understand. “You can't count a river while it moves by you. The best thing to do is to take off your clothes and go swimming in it. And when you feel the water all around you, then you're part of the total river—where it's been, where it is, and where it's flowing. Plunge in!” (pg 56) He knew that to fully understand something, full immersion in the subject was necessary. He tried to do this in all things, moving into the woods, away from everything, spending the night in jail, to protest the Mexican war, and putting gloves on chickens, to save the roses from destruction. He was like the Republic of Ireland, in that he was like an island in the middle of the sea, separated from the rest of the world by his ideals and thoughts. He was pushed to become like them, to
give up his individuality, his sea, to conform to the 'Empire' of the rest of his community.

For a time, Thoreau created his own type of classroom, one where the pasture was room and blackboard, and the students learned to teach themselves. “Nobody can teach anybody anything.” (pg 24)  He believed  in learning through doing, not through a set of lessons, first this, then that, and finally the third. Experience was the only way to truly understand how something worked, by taking it apart or by going through the motions of spinning or making  box or living. Imagination was also key in his school, the ability to see his ideas in your head, whether that was atoms and other things invisible to the naked eye, or the bottom of a pond. “My students have the ache of curiosity, which I'm afraid your proscriptions will not cure!” (pg 20) The ability to question what they had been taught, and to form their own opinions on it, was something Thoreau found vital. He gave up his teaching position, and his place at the pencil factory, to make sure that they could do this. When it didn't work, he kept trying until there was no one left to listen, and then he taught himself.

As Thoreau, so myself. I try to find at least one way to put a twist in everything I do, so as to stand out, and remain true to myself. As my brother, who isn't actually related to me, said, “You're unique because you write, a lot, and draw, with multimedia, and stuff.. And this pertains to Thoreau because, umm, he was really cool?” When I had to give a speech, more of a story, on a moment in my life, I sang, loudly and as clearly as I could, to perk my audience's attention after several stories that, though they were about different things, were all told close to the same way. So I did the most interesting thing I could think of, other than bringing the tooth Disneyland made for me and throwing it at somebody. By remaining true to myself, especially at this age, I uphold the ideals Thoreau set down by being the Republic of Ireland. High School is supposed to be about finding out who you are, but it seems to be more of a giant game of follow the leader, marching to the beat of a sharp, heavy metal drum. Not only is my drumbeat entirely different, it's not even a drum. I'd much rather play the fifer, giving directions to the world, and to myself, with the high, clear, soaring notes from that instrument.

Thoreau was a shining example of individuality in everything he did and didn't do. He stood up for what he believed in, changing himself to change the world. He avidly supported his opinions on nature and education, and set up a framework for the rest of the world to break out of as it chose. “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step  to the music  which he hears, however measured, or far away.”

~Henry David Thoreau