Recently i saw the trailer of Sean Penn's new movie : "Into The Wild". I liked it, and the fact that it's about a boy who leaves behind the big city and goes on an adventure to find himself really struck me. The movie is based on a novel from Jon Krakauer, and even better, the novel and thus the movie, are based on real events. I started looking up information about the main character Chris McCandless and found a story about life, philosophy, dreams, ideas and eventualy death.
Chris was born 1968 and it wasn't long before his teachers noticed he had a very strong will, wich later would be coupled with strong idealism and physical endurance. Chris grew up, went to university and started to dislike, what he called, "the empty materialisme of American society. Influenced by the works of Jack London, Leo Tolstoy and Henry David Thoreau, he decided to leave society behind and fullfill he's biggest dream : go on a big adventure and lead a life full of philosophy, thoughts and ideas. He donated his $24,000 life savings to Oxfam and began traveling. He had periods where he worked and setteled somewhere, he also had periods where he lived alone and had no contact with other humans.He also pursuit his biggest dream : an Alaskan Odyssey. He would live of the land, away from all other humans, and write in his journal how he, physically and spiritual, delt with the forces of nature. He found an abandoned bus and started his new life. Although he was badly geared he managed to keep himself alive, but nature always has a will on it's own. Chris weakened, probably from eating poisonous seeds, and was found dead in his bus by a group of moose hunters.
What I like so much about Chris McCandless his story is the fact that he went out into the world and decided to pursuit his dreams. He choose a life away from civilization, a life where he could think about the world, where he had time to develop his own philosophy and where he could be happy. I wished I had the courage to donate all my money and leave into the unknown. Chris did what I see as one of the most beautiful things in life, he just went for it. Although he died young and alone, I don't believe he died unhappy. Reading up on him has made me believe that he was very happy alone, that he could think about life, that he had found his place to unfold himself.
It's people like Chris that make me keep on dreaming about my beautiful Utopia. Many believe that hero's are people who save lives, who do great deeds, and yes, that maby right. But we often forget about those people who encourage us to do things, who help us keep on dreaming and who let us know that it's ok to be different. To me, Chris is one of those hero's, a simple, but great man.
Take care and see you soon.
