My Thoreau

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July 12 marks the two hundredth birthday of one of this country's most unique personalities, Henry David Thoreau. Although Henry was not a man given to festivity this is one birthday that deserves a celebration

Today, Thoreau is mostly remembered as one of those transcendental crackpots that seem to hatch out of new England every so often. Over the years he has been portrayed as a loner, a mystic, a sort of 19^th century hippie who spent his life hugging trees around Walden Pond. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I first met Mr. Thoreau in 1970. I was a Junior in college and the world around me seemed to be crumbling. America was at war with itself . Young people were dying in Vietnam and on the campus at Kent State. Here in Buffalo, the steel mills which had defined our city and employed my family for generations were folding their tents. I was in college, but wondered where I'd land after graduation.

In 1845, Thoreau faced a similar situation. America seemed ready to go to war with itself over the issue of slavery In Concord, there were regular visits from runaway slaves following the north star to freedom. Henry had tried his hand at a number of professions after graduation from Harvard. He was a school teacher, pencil maker, surveyor and jack of all trades. None of these occupations brought him satisfaction and so he retreated to the woods around Walden Pond to craft a new life for himself.

When I came to Thoreau in 1970, the appeal was strong. Henry found fresh answers in the natural world. The mills in near by Lowell, the Fitchberg Railway, and the booming economies were transforming the New England landscape at breakneck speed. Thousands of young men and women were leaving their farms for the lights and money that flowed in the big cities. In the midst of this, Thoreau went back to the woods and learned to read the book of nature. For me, back in 1970, the natural world seemed a steady force in an unsteady world.

Here in Buffalo, we are lucky enough to be in close proximity to such wonders as Niagara Falls , Zoar Valley and the Cattaraugus Hills. In such places, I found Henry was alive and well along the untrodden paths through the words he wrote so long ago.

On July 12 we might consider Thoreau's many accomplishments:

• He invented the genre of Nature writing. For the first time readers could experience the wonders of nature first -hand Through the eyes and the heart of Thoreau, everything from the ice on Walden pond to the battles of ants became fodder for his pen.

• Developed excellent pencils for his father's factory. Thoreau pencils with special leads developed by Henry, were the finest in nineteenth century America.
• Rejected materialism by living simply and self - reliantly. In 1845, Thoreau borrowed an ax and built a small house where he lived successfully for two years.

• Wrote "Civil Disobedience" after spending time in jail to protest the Fugitive Slave Act. As a political thinker, Thoreau is from the radical school of Jefferson, Franklin and Adams. He was a passionate defender of the individual whose work was cited by such leaders asMartin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi.

• Kept an extensive journal which, among other things, has given historians an insider's view of pre Civil War America.

Not bad for a guy who described himself as "a self-appointed inspector of snow storms.". So when July 12 rolls around this year, you won't find me eating cake or blowing out candles. I'll be back in the woods learning to read the important news and thanking Thoreau for giving me the push to be there.

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