Ethereal apples

I paid particular attention to Thoreau’s discussion of man’s interference with the apples and his lack of importance to them in many respects. I really like the passage where he talks about the man selecting apples to sell: “He turns a specked one over many times before he leaves it out. If I were to tell what is passing in my mind, I should say that everyone was specked which he had handled; for he rubs off all the bloom, and those fugacious ethereal qualities leave it.” To Thoreau, the “man-handling” of the apple ruins its beauty, not the possible specks or imperfections. The argument about man’s destruction of nature simply by interfering is one I can’t say I agree with. To me, this argument savors strongly of inherent beauty in nature idea and to say that humans ruin it is, in my opinion, an exaggeration. Do humans sometimes trample and destroy? Yes, of course we do but humans also love and appreciate nature and long to be a part of it. Assuming that nature is only beautiful or good in relation to us is silly, but we only have our eyes to see things through and we will inevitable be colored by that truth. On the other hand, saying nature only matters completely removed from us makes no sense.