Just finished watching "Into the Wild" with Michael. I had read the book many years ago. It is a great movie: I highly recommend it (and the book).
At one point, when an retired ex-army guy is asking why McCandless has abandoned his old life, why he isn't getting an education, why he isn't working at a job he replies essentially that this world isn't one he created and he doesn't subscribe to it.
I feel like that a lot, and I kind of laugh when people talk about "freedom". Freedom? I've been in school since I was five. I have to have a job and pay taxes and wear shoes and not burp loudly when in public places. Freedom. It's funny. This whole world, this whole rigid structure was created long, long before I came along and then I was deposited into it and told I could do anything that I wanted, be whatever I wanted to be. Not really.
I realize that if I truly wanted to be free I could shrug on a backpack and squat on a Gulf Island or traverse into the bowels of the woods and eke out an existence there, but to what end and for how long?
The counter to this is that, if we all fucked off and hiked into the woods then no one would be around to make the kayaks that McCandless travelled in, or the backpack he carried over thousands of miles. If we all fucked off and hiked into the woods, the woods would be pretty crowded. To each their own.
No money = freedom. I'm not willing to do the "no money" route, though (cause I'm too much of a wimp, and because I won't have grand kids to take care of me when I'm old and incontinent... assuming of course that I even make it that long).
Alternatively: money = freedom. I never saw my parents working at a conventional job. Since I was a babe they were both around. So I will try that route: save; think outside the box; don't spend money on material crap. More money gives you more choices. The more choices you have the more free you are. The more free I am, the happier I am.
If you don't think that money brings happiness, let me know: I'll give you my bank account number and you can unburden yourself.
Lastly? Let's say that I do throw in the towel and go to Lasqueti, or travel Europe. I have to agree with McCandless when he wrote "happiness is only real when it is shared".
I try to share my happiness with the guys at work quite often, but I've been written up twice now, so I figure I'll stop.
At one point, when an retired ex-army guy is asking why McCandless has abandoned his old life, why he isn't getting an education, why he isn't working at a job he replies essentially that this world isn't one he created and he doesn't subscribe to it.
I feel like that a lot, and I kind of laugh when people talk about "freedom". Freedom? I've been in school since I was five. I have to have a job and pay taxes and wear shoes and not burp loudly when in public places. Freedom. It's funny. This whole world, this whole rigid structure was created long, long before I came along and then I was deposited into it and told I could do anything that I wanted, be whatever I wanted to be. Not really.
I realize that if I truly wanted to be free I could shrug on a backpack and squat on a Gulf Island or traverse into the bowels of the woods and eke out an existence there, but to what end and for how long?
The counter to this is that, if we all fucked off and hiked into the woods then no one would be around to make the kayaks that McCandless travelled in, or the backpack he carried over thousands of miles. If we all fucked off and hiked into the woods, the woods would be pretty crowded. To each their own.
No money = freedom. I'm not willing to do the "no money" route, though (cause I'm too much of a wimp, and because I won't have grand kids to take care of me when I'm old and incontinent... assuming of course that I even make it that long).
Alternatively: money = freedom. I never saw my parents working at a conventional job. Since I was a babe they were both around. So I will try that route: save; think outside the box; don't spend money on material crap. More money gives you more choices. The more choices you have the more free you are. The more free I am, the happier I am.
If you don't think that money brings happiness, let me know: I'll give you my bank account number and you can unburden yourself.
Lastly? Let's say that I do throw in the towel and go to Lasqueti, or travel Europe. I have to agree with McCandless when he wrote "happiness is only real when it is shared".
I try to share my happiness with the guys at work quite often, but I've been written up twice now, so I figure I'll stop.
1 comment:
I am currently reading it myself. I bought it looking for inspiration in the tale of a man who said 'fuck it' to the system and went off to do his whole thing. Was quite deflated when I realized he screwed up and died. While I am managing to reach across the vastness of the last decade or so and recall a glimmer my own reckess youth, disconcern with mortality and the misadventures that brings(ask me about the van trip down the coast) I am finding it hard to truely relate to McCandless as I always brought enough food.
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