Today we visited the J. P. Morgan library and museum in New York. The museum is featuring the journals of Henry David Thoreau along with explanatory materials.
Thoreau has had a major influence on the way I think. As you may know, I keep chickens. Over the years I’ve lost two to hawks and had one badly injured, although it recovered.
Here’s what Thoreau said about hawks: “I would rather never taste chickens’ meat nor hens’ eggs than never to see a hawk sailing through the upper air again.”
My sentiments exactly.
I must add something. Guys like Frick, Morgan, Stanford and Carnegie were not nice people. They exploited workers, built giant mansions, collected priceless artifacts. On the other hand, they also endowed colleges, founded libraries, and on their deaths opened their collections to the public.
Contrast them with our modern billionaires. Yeah, the Koch Brothers give a pittance to cancer research, but it hardly erases the evil they do. Look at the robber barons in the Trump cabinet. Look at Trump. These people do not contribute in any way to the well-being of this country. It makes one long for the Carnegies, Fords, and Rockefellers of the past.
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