What a serendipitous find. A writer wanted to borrow a book I've never heard of, the book was even made into a movie which I haven't heard of as well. The book was Into The Wild which ended up on my desk for a long perio of time -- the writer ended up not even borrowing it and of course it ended up being read by me.Into The Wild is Jon Krakauer's account of Chris McCandless' Alaskan Odyssey where he stayed beside the Sushana River, squatting on the remains of a bus that was left there from halted project, for over 100 days alone, with meager supplies, relying on only his wits and Mother Nature. What moved me about this book was the seemingly contradictory character of Chris who was raised in an affluent Virginia suburb to hard-working parents who managed to build a comfortable life for their family and had all the trappings of the good life. Being an above- average student increased his chances of making it "big" someday. And yet he decided that the best way to live his life is to commune with nature, be cut off from his family and be without worldly possessions. Although this is not an original case of upper middle-class guilt, Chris took his fiery ideals to an undeniable extreme. Supplied with lofty theories (not practices) of authors such as Leo Tolstoy, Henry David Thoreau and Jack London, he set out for the wild west, embarking on the adventure of his life knowing in his heart that the ultimate adventure would be to venture out into the Alaskan wilderness alone.
Reading the first couple of chapters in the book, I couldn't helf but feel mad at this young man, how could he just leave without saying goodbye, without telling his parents where he would go, knowing he would be the cause of so much grief? Who does that? Was there malicious intent to hurt his parents so? As I came to get to know him thru Krakauer's prose and from the reactions of people he met while on the road, it became clear to me that it wasn't meanness that led him to do that. He doesn't suffer injustice all too well and could be very unforgiving of weak traits especially of his father who pushed him all his life to excel. He had a genuine heart, a sound mind and indeed, lofty ideals. He touched every single person he met on his vagabond life, and I guess he had an innate light and quality he couldn't help but show. He made a few friends who he managed to keep in touch with. Some strangers he met who knew him as just Alex or Alex McCandless. It didn't matter though if he was with a stranger for a few hours or a few days, those people remembered him and remembered him well. He wouldn't talk of his past life and his family, leaving only an inkling of a dispute that was left unmended. But from his way of speaking and processing thoughts and ideas, the people he met had no doubt that Chris/Alex was a schooled and intelligent young man.
After 2 years of living on the road, assuming a different name, hopping from one place to the next, he finally prepared for his Alaskan Odyssey. Ill-prepared he might have seemed to expert climbers, trekkers and hunters; brash and arrogant he must have looked to the native Alaskan who knew how easily the Alaskan wilderness can snuff out a life, stupid and incompetent he must have appeared to the average person who knew his story -- nonetheless, he stuck it out and was able to live alone in the wilderness for 3 months. He hunted game, ate berries and wild potatoes, and fended for himself. True that with a map he would've realized that he wasn't actually in THE wilderness, true that if he only had a compass he would've been able to get out alive and not die of starvation...all these posits and arguments are true. But he stuck it out. He made a decision and stuck to it and did not compromise. How many of us can say the same thing of ourselves?
One thing stands out in this story of fate, adventure and indomitable spirit -- Chris' heart and mind were one and he couldn't find it in a single fiber of his entire being to live his life any other way.
After finishing the book with tears in my eyes, I searched the net for pictures of Chris. And what I saw, though heartbreaking, gave me pause -- looking into his eyes in the self-portraits he took, in front of the bus, posing with the moose he shot and even his last photo of himself, I can sense an inner peace, a quiet determination and a pure joy that is very rare to find in one lifetime. He died of starvation, alone, possibly after eating moldy seeds that became toxic, which could have sent him to his slow and lonely death. But I am sure that in his last hour when he took stock of his life, he saw it for what it was and he praised God because it was good.
