What's being written........

Henry David Thoreau

"It is never too late to give up our prejudices. No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof."

-- Walden, 1854

Thoreau lived and wrote of an emblematic aspect of American individualism, a self-reflective celebration of individual responsibility. Alone in the woods, living "deliberately" and concerned only with "the essential facts of life," Thoreau sought to uncover himself by discovering everything around him.

He sought his own experiences, untainted by the influences, prejudices and "old ways of thinking" handed down by well-meaning elders. He reveled in the great "experiment of living," discovering facts and truths for himself.

In every culture, nation and religion, elders pass down the smoldering embers of passionate prejudices to the young. Each new generation of potential individuals then learns new means to fan the flames to perpetuate prejudice. Thoreau's words remind us that each individual has the power to experience the great "experiment of living" for oneself. Seizing this power promotes the type of self-learning that can extinguish the ancient intergenerational prejudices that now threaten us all.

-- Steve Stockdale, Fort Worth

"If...the machine of government...is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. ... Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison."

-- Civil Disobedience, 1849

Thoreau's Civil Disobedience should be translated and disseminated to the world because the obligation to protest an unjust governmental law or action through the exercise of civil disobedience is a fundamental American value.

Our history has taught us that laws can be passed and wars waged that are unjust and contrary to the highest and best values of our people. At those times, it becomes the duty of the people to disobey such laws and resort to nonviolent direct action to effect positive change.

Those who protest official governmental policy, under any form of government, are often labeled unpatriotic and at times even traitors. The truth is that informed dissent is the highest form of service that a citizen can perform for the government. Sometime it is true that to stand up for one's country means to stand up to one's government.

-- the Rev. Bernard Kern, North Richland Hills

source: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/16255321.htm