John Keating,The Post Apocalypse, and Walden Pond: A Transcendental Experience

I can not believe just how transcendentalist John Keating is. If he is not quoting transcendentalists he is teaching students the fundamentals of transcendental thought. I could go through each clip and explain the transcendentalist views portrayed in each, but there are going to be twenty some odd posts here about that. Instead I will go the rout of non-conformity(a major tenet of transcendentalism), the road less traveled, if you will. In this post I will be talking to you about something I realized today during one of my breaks. At around lunch time I went down to the basement to play some video games. One of the only video games I am playing right now is Fallout 4, so I booted it up and began exploring. I was looking on my map when I realized I had discovered a location called Walden Pond. Immediately recognizing the name, I traveled there to find a small pond and cabin. Fallout 4 takes place in and around Boston and it's location in-game mirrors its location in real life. For Henry David Thoreau, Walden Pond was an escape from society and is where he fostered his transcendental ideas. Somewhat ironically, in fallout 4, the pond is a radioactive waste-filled mess, and even has a sewer pipe running into it. Despite all of this, it is a very tranquil place. As I explored around the pond I climbed into the sewer. My character in the game is very sneaky and because of this the raiders inside the sewer were not alerted to my presence. As I sneaked  around their makeshift base I realized they were having a discussion about transcendentalism. After killing the raiders and stealing their loot I left the sewers and watched the sunset over the pond from the porch of Thoreau's cabin. A fitting end to a lunchtime adventure. It is interesting to think that even in a post-nuclear apocalypse that ideologies that put nature and deep thought may pervade through the war-torn irradiated wastes of society. I like to think that my character walked the road less traveled.