Vituperation
The American Vacation. This simple concept is one that for many represents a time of rest, exploration, and luxury. However, I believe that this concept is one that has shackled many areas and the people living in them. It is this concept that has turned people’s homes into tourist traps and places of nature, that an individual could appreciate on their own, into places that are torn down and changed for profit. Even the Adirondacks glorified in the reading, first by William H.H. Murray then by Tony Perrottet, are not exempt from this. The author’s guide said
even back in Murray’s day, a lot of the forest was being logged, clear-cut and burned. In the early 1900s, a logging railroad even went right by this river. The biggest trees would have been 300 to 400 years old, and grown as high as 150 feet. Even though the logging stopped a century ago, it will take a couple of hundred years more to get back to its original state.
This story in of itself shows the tragedy brought about by American travel. If this area was left alone to begin with, there would be no need to try to preserve it and leave it alone…we were the problem that damaged the area to begin with. Humans have a curious duality where we find the beauty of thing while simultaneously destroying them. The American vacation is then a dangerous concept where our greed and desire overcomes our thoughts to believe that we are more entitled to an area and its beauty, and the labor of the people surrounding it, in order to take a break from our lives and enjoy our vacation.