There are two different scenes in the passage
The first one is set on the outside of a wagon train before or during the year 1861, while the second scene is set on a house after the year 2005.
The first boy is trying to get some wood to warm his mother who is ill and he has to walk to get it. The second boy has her mother ill too, but he has to face with the problem of electricity, so he just makes a phone call to the power company to fix it.
The main difference between the historical era in which they live, when trying to solve the conflict, is that one has to solve the problem himself while the other boy makes a phone call and another person solves the problem for him.

The Whitman's poem has a very similar title
#CarryOnLearning
Looking out my small window, past our small yard and wooden fence, and into the streets, I didn't know what to feel. The shop I once visited, and filled my mouth with sweet treats, was now slowly burning to the ground. People ran up and down the streets shouting things I didn't understand. Cars were broken into, setting off the alarms. A small child sat on the sidewalk, his tear stained face was blotchy, and his eyes were empty. I stepped away from the window not wanting to see anymore. My parents were out on holiday, and there was nowhere else for me to go. I sat at the edge of my bed; and cried. Why is this world filled with chaos? Why are the minds of adults so corrupted? I stood and walked to my window, threw it open, and shouted.
"Why is earth filled with such madness?!"
At that moment I heard the door downstairs fly open, feet stomped up the stairs and towards my bedroom. I sat on the ground, knowing that there was no more hope, and I surrendered to the wrath of the world.
Answer: Risking your life for someone bad, even though they have been relentlessly mean towards you.
Words like Rome, Bone ,and Tome, etc