Throughout history, there have been numerous philosophers and thinkers;
some of these  have caused the society of their respective time periods to reform,
politically and socially.  However, few of these great minds can truly be called
men of the future, in regard to their ideas or, perhaps, actions.  One of these
men would have to be Henry David Thoreau.
	While this characteristic of Thoreau is evident in his many essays and
books, it is most clearly spelled out in the play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert
E. Lee, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail.  This play delineates a night in 1852,
when Thoreau refused to pay taxes to a government he felt was unjust, as an act
of civil disobedience.  This was construed as a crime punishable by imprisonment
by the local sheriff.  
	Few could understand why Thoreau had done this; clearly, it was not
because he could not afford to pay, as he refused the sheriff’s offer to pay it for
him; evidently, it was because of some warped principle of his.  His cellmate,
Bailey, an uneducated vagrant, thought that someone of Thoreau’s breeding
and intelligence did not belong in a prison.  Among the few who did not see
Thoreau’s act as one of complete insanity were his close friend, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, and perhaps Waldo’s wife, Lydian.  Thoreau believed that what he was
doing was right.  Not until the twentieth century did others practice civil
disobedience; people like Martin Luther King, and Ghandi; people who existed
long after Thoreau.  
	Often emphasized in the play was Thoreau’s dwelling: a shack, on Walden
Pond, near Concord, New Hampshire.  The reason for this is clear: Thoreau did
not believe in materialism.  While many religious doctrines and leaders might
point out that materialism is not the way, it was for different reasons; Priests may
have said this to bring about the Second Coming, while Thoreau’s reason was
somewhat more attainable, or at least more earthly.  He had foreseen to what, in
the distant future, materialism and avarice would lead: short term happiness, but
at a great cost: namely, cataclysms such as the collapse of governments,
economies, and, for many, moral character.  If there were no materialism would
there have been depressions like the one in the late 1920s caused by
overzealous stock market players ?  If not for materialism, would the Marxist
Bolshevik revolution have occurred?  When Thoreau was alive, his essays and
ideas only reached the intelligentsia, the elite; however, if he were alive during
any of these disasters, using modern telecommunications, and with people more
receptive to new ideas, his beliefs could have spread to everybody, perhaps even
preventing many of today’s problems.
	Thoreau’s beliefs and intelligence were definitely not his only virtues,
however.  He was depicted as being one of the few truly warm, receptive people,
someone who was careful to show others the respect they deserved; he regarded
crude laymen, such as freed slaves and drunken vagrants the same way he saw
fellow intellectuals: as human beings, never condescending, never insulting, and
always valuing what they said.
	These character attributes of Thoreau can be traced, partially, to his deep-
rooted beliefs in transcendentalism.  Greatly simplified, this belief stated that
everything was one, and, if one aspect of this unit was damaged or destroyed,
the unit would not function properly.  Thus, insulting a fellow man, or ignoring his
opinions did not only hurt that man’s self image, but also the insulter, and
everything else.  As a result, Thoreau thought it only natural to make sure others
performed to the best of their abilities, thus helping the unit function properly.  To
do this, he became a teacher; however, after being disgusted at  the small minds
of the highly conservative school administration, he was forced to leave that
profession.
	Intertwined with his belief in transcendentalism, Thoreau also believed in
utter respect, almost unquestionability of nature for the main reason that it did not
worry about conforming or materialism.  It simply was, and its simple system had
existed billions of years before intrusive man; as soon as he was introduced, he
mistakenly attempted to control nature and other animals. To Thoreau, nature
was more logical than man ever could be.
	Truthfully, Thoreau was a man out of time.  His ideas would influence
many in the century to follow his, and his life would deeply affect all those around
him, even if they didn’t quite understand some of his ideas.  He earned respect
from members of every class through his respect for them and his ability to speak
his mind without fear of a government which he considered to be unjust.  He
believed that, after everyone accepted his role as one of the many facets of the
universe, people could truly be free.