I watched a movie today titled "Into the Wild". This movie is based on a true story of Christopher McCandless, a 20-something-year-old who after graduating from college went off the grid and disappeared from society, all to follow his dream of being an adventurer traveling around the US and Mexico. His ultimate destination was Alaska where he planned to live in the wilderness.
I find his story very inspirational. Here was a kid with very little life experience who refused to conform to what society regards as "normal life". He knew that bills and a 9-5 job were not what life should be about. He chose to follow his dream of living in the wild and for 110+ days he did just that. Many of us, myself including, don't have the stones to do what he did. We have mortgages, car loans, credit cards, school bills, etc...we have "obligations". We work our asses off wasting away the best years of our lives "looking forward" to retirement in order to "enjoy life". How incredibly stupid and backward that is.
Sadly, Christopher did not survive his journey. He died in Alaska in August 1992 reportedly of starvation. His body was found two weeks after his death by two moose hunters. Some will argue that Christopher was a fool and was unprepared for what lied ahead of him. Maybe so, but according to his final note, he died a happy man.
“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”Christopher McCandless
