Opening Quote

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contained, I stand and look at them long and long. They do not sweat and whine about their condition, They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins, They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God, Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things, Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago, Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth. – Walt Whitman

I think I could turn away and live with animals. They are so calm and content in themselves. I stand and watch them for a long, long time. They do not agonize and complain about their lives. They do not lie awake in the dark and cry over their sins. They do not sicken me with talk of their duty to God. Not one is dissatisfied. Not one is driven mad by the urge to own things. Not one kneels before another, or before ancestors who lived thousands of years ago. Not one anywhere on earth is respectable or unhappy. Walt Whitman