Chris McCandless, Into The Wild.

I first got to know about Chris McCandless (a.k.a "Alexander Supertramp")' story from this article, by John Krakaurer. I devoured the book years ago, and finally saw the movie by Sean Penn last night.

I'm surprised at how my own mind has changed. While I almost envied Chris' quest in the 90's when I, myself, was beginning to analyze the many ills of society, I now feel a bit angry at him. He wasn't really living the wild life in Alaska: he found good shelter, a stove, heat, a bed to sleep in, a rifle, etc. What he didn't have was practical intelligence. A simple combination of a map and a compass would have gotten him out of there alive, and allowed him to still be amongst us, spreading his message to the world.

I now think that Chris was self-indulgent and blinded to all of the immense love presented to him from complete strangers until he got to Alaska. He unknowingly hurt a lot of people with his adventure. I really feel for his sister and mom, and the old guy who wanted to adopt him. Many tried to give him words of advice but he listened only to the voice inside his head (a bit arrogant?), and this foolishness ultimately killed him. When he finally connected the spiritual dots and "saw the light" (he wrote "happiness is only good when shared"), his lack of preparation caught up with him.

Another aspect we can’t ignore is that he was too young, and young people think they are invincible and that death is a far away concept. I know it; I've been there. Ironically, I just saw a video on youtube about him, followed by several comments almost certainly written by young folks, such as "he's my god" or "he’s my hero". WOW! I, too, feel a deep affinity for his ideas but "hero"? "god"? Ahem. Please. Get real.

One of the writers he admired, Henry David Thoreau, did this, s-a-f-e-l-y, and was able to return to society and to write his experience fist hand, that will continue to inspire generations to come. Chris' story speaks more about the importance of balance and safety, and how Nature is not there to protect you - things we forget if we get dangerously entranced with idealism. That, alone, will not get you far. It needs to be balanced with practicality. The Yin-Yang symbol speaks this without words.

In the end, I’m sort of convinced that Chris' quest was fate, meant-to-be, and that he subconsciously knew it. That’s why he left traces of himself behind, thus writing his own story all along; he just didn’t know that someone else would have to put the pen to the paper. However, it still does not erase the cruelty of his method, leaving his family worried sick with no news, and now forced to deal with this unresolved pain for the rest of their lives. Maybe he didn’t feel strong enough to have a sit-down with his father; maybe he didn’t know that direct communication is the best tool to solve everything. Instead, he seemed to think of himself only, and I’m not sure which is less desirable: Chris’ selfishness or the hypocrisy of his dad.

I'm taking stock too, Chris, but for reasons you likely did not intend. I’ll try to have my feet more on the ground and to learn to appreciate the good things society has to offer me, and family, my parents - who are just humans, like me, and make mistakes. Most of all, I will learn to forgive people. You could have done that, Chris, if you had a few crucial items in your backpack. And that’s a shame.

Ultimately - and perhaps unintentionally - Chris' lesson is not to leave society behind, but to face it, to be proactive in improving your home, your family, your inner self, while immersed in the world - a much harder task that we all try to do, over and over, everyday - so that hopefully the fruits of our labor and new understandings will spill out into the world at large. Each one of us, doing what we can, for the good of all.

Read his wikipedia page.

PS: A few of good blog posts, here , here and here, and did you doubt this would happen?

Updates, March 09:

pics of Chris on Flickr.

An AP article here, that talks about a new film, 'the independent documentary, "The Call of the Wild", in which filmmaker Ron Lamothe attempts to debunk what he calls lingering myths about McCandless.'

John Trudell