Blog #5, Choice 4: The Times, They Are A-Changin'

Waking Up in the Future
I awoke today in a very different world. It appears that I was transported into the future. I spent the first few hours gathering myself and walking around town. Everybody seems to have somewhere important to go, so I walked into a corner store that smelled of rich nuts and coffee and was loaded with people on fancy machines that looked like thin typewriters. All the customers' clothes were ripped or faded, as if they had just come from a fight. Nobody really wanted to talk, but I saw a calendar on the wall that read February 20, 2011. I have a lot to learn.

Life
All day, every day, everybody seems to be rushing around me. The life in the streets seems to be nothing more than a segue between buildings, where I'm still not really sure what people do all day, because all I see are large groups of people sitting at desks, looking at lighted screens attached to thin typewriters. Bright lights and loud noises consume every aspect of life, both outdoors and indoors, sometimes advertising products, and sometimes I have no idea why they are occurring. I need to get out of here. I have decided to go back to my cabin at Walden Pond, on my mentor's old property, where I should be able to clear my mind and gather myself before I return to life here in the city.

Unable to Leave
When I went to the location of Emerson's old cabin where I had stayed before, I was horrified to find that the pond was not where it should be, nor was the cabin, and nor were the trees! The land had been cleared and replaced with several large buildings, and large areas of land where many automobiles could park. I found that one building was a hotel where I could spend some time alone, though I had people playing loud music and causing lots of noise through all hours of the night. Unfortunately I only had enough money to stay for one night, so I wasn't able to get much thinking done.

Going Home
I need to go home. There is nothing appealing to me about this world; the people are unfriendly, the wilderness is gone, the air is dirty, and every one of my senses is offended with some form of advertisement or cheap gimmick. This future is bleak indeed for humankind. In terms of my own life, it really makes me appreciate our lifestyle of the past. I have nowhere to escape to without paying some ridiculous sum, and every opportunity is riddled with fools trying to make a few dollars off of me. Life has changed to such an extent that people are not even living anymore, but rather just doing whatever they can to collect more and more money. Somebody please send me back.