Henry David Thoreau was a prominent figure in the Transcendentalism movement. He was the author of “Civil Disobedience,” published in 1847. It emphasizes the importance of individual conscience in a society where you must either conform to the laws or be imprisoned.
I support Thoreau’s ideas of civil disobedience. Our conscience makes us who we are. When we conform to the laws created by society and the government, we lose ourselves and our free will. Today, we as a society face the problem of conformity with the pandemic and the new vaccine.
We have the choice to either conform to the opinions of society and get the vaccine, or exercise our free will and refuse it. Before Thoreau had written the essay, slavery and the Mexican-American War made people question their morals. They had to decide whether they wanted to conform to the government’s ideals, or to themselves. In either setting, it’s important to remember that individual consciences will always have individual morals.
“The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.”
The only moral obligation an individual has is to himself.
Jasmine Carter
Dolores
