“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life. . . and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

—Henry David Thoreau

I’m guessing it’s probably a good thing Thoreau never visited San Diego.  If he had seen these beaches with sand pipers and had sat on these cliffs listening to the mighty Pacific’s rhythmic  eternal surge against the western edge of America, he might not have settled on Walden Pond as a place to live.  I’ve been to Walden Pond, and I like the place; but I wouldn’t want to live there… not for long anyway.  In that second chapter of Walden, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,”  Thoreau said his goal in life was to live free of obligations, a life full of leisure in a place far from the post office.  He wanted to be free and uncommitted, especially from time. Especially important to him was learning to gauge truth by measuring the reality of things. He delighted in having his own place at Walden.  Looking at what he had bought, he said, “With respect to landscapes, I am the monarch of all I survey. My right there is none to dispute.” 

Of course, he couldn’t own these beaches in California… nobody can.  They belong to all of us, and that’s good enough for me, especially now that I am retired from that activity called by the four-letter word work.  Life is good.