What is your Alaska?

Chris McCandless of "Into the Wild" infamy planned and executed his great Alaska odyssey. This was his dream and it stuck with him and unfortunately killed him too. He has been lauded as a hero and as a reckless person who was unwise at best.

I'll let each of you draw your own conclusions. I am presently reading Krakauer's book about Chris and will make my own determination when I finish the book and any other material I can get my hands on.

Here's my thought. Do you have an "Alaska" that's sitting there in the recesses of your mind? Do I have one? Is there something waiting to be fulfilled? What is it that drives you crazy thinking? Is there a destination, a place, a person or just some life long hidden goal that you would love to achieve?

I wonder if behind the cage of society lie dreams that have been dormant for many years. What will it take for you or I to rise against this sense of society and push beyond these man made borders and work to achieve your personal Alaska, or mine? I wonder what it would be like to push away from the stall and just walk. To become lost on purpose in order to find what I am looking for, I'm sure there's a U2 reference there somehow.

I would do it, but not like Chris. I would be released from society but not totally absent from it. I would contact family and friends, somehow. They deserve to know...........a little. I wonder what it would be like, don't you? Is everyone so afraid that there is no dreaming left? The road does go on and on and where it leads I do not know, but I want to know......................... and soon.

Into the Wild part 4, some possible spoilers

I've been wondering about some things lately.

One, of course, is related to Chris McCandless's drive to accomplish a goal that he set for himself. He wanted to live a life without a safety net (my words not his) and he also set a goal of living off the land in Alaska. He made it to Alaska and survived for 113 days. So many have said that life is not in the destination, but rather in the journey and it seems that his journey although fraught with difficulty and eventual failure still stands out.

I wonder how many of us have had dreams like Chris and have never been able to fulfill them. How many dreams are dying the slow death of fear and abandonment in the recesses of our minds? It appears that some thoughts that I have considered over the last months are coming together, those being the catatonic fear that immobilizes us and the failure to dream or worse the inability to consummate the dream.

Fear didn't stop Chris because based on what I have read, he was a dreamer (just listen to Supertramp) and he consummated his dreams, unfortunately not to the conclusion that he expected, but he did get there.

What would life be like if you (and I) were not so afraid? What is stopping us from living the life that we might have, if we allowed ourselves to dream? How much would change?

I do not suggest throwing caution to the wind or anywhere else. Most of us cannot just give up life and walk away. That would be irresponsible. To walk away from family and loved ones to accomplish my dreams would be selfish. If Chris demonstrated anything by not staying in contact with his family, he demonstrated that "happiness only real when shared" and if we abandon loved ones to accomplish our dreams then we have not learned anything.

So, what's it gonna be...............................?



 

Into the Wild part 3

Yes it is still hanging on in my brain, partly because it won't leave and partly because I am still trying to figure it out. Now part of the issue is determining what "it" is. Partly because I have downloaded (legally) the album soundtrack of amazing music by Eddie Vedder, haunting especially how he wrote lyrics to match the story so well. I have been "stuck" thinking about Chris McCandless for several days now after watching the film "Into the Wild" on Sept.6/10.

One thing that strikes me about him was his lack of fear. From what I have read and watched over the last two days, there is nothing that showed he was afraid. he disliked things strongly, but I have not gotten the sense that he was afraid. Maybe that's it!

A life lived without fear, at least until the end maybe, but a life without fear, wow!

But at the end one would expect to have no more fear, but the SOS message seemed to show that he was fearful of his ability to survive.

What would a life without fear be like?

I wonder but maybe too afraid to experience a life like that, I wonder..................

Into the Wild part 2

I can't seem to get this kid (he wasn't really a kid) out of my mind.

I am not sure why, but so many questions are stuck in my mind about him. So much other stuff in my head has had the fuse lit by this story about a dreamer, minimalist, adventurer and misguided young man.

Something about the story doesn't fit for me and I can't seem to figure out which part, or parts. He was intelligent, smart, moral (define that these days) and athletic. It just doesn't appear that he had common sense. I read the 9000 word piece by Krakauer in "Outsider" magazine and intend to read the book by the same author to see what I can discover about this lost dreamer aka Alexander Supertramp, who too late discovered to call things (including himself) by their right name.

I can't figure it out..............

Into the Wild ........ some spoilers........some thoughts

Had some alone time today.

Saw a film on tv that looked interesting and was mesmerized by the entire thing. The film is "Into the Wild". Sean Penn is an amazing director and Eddie Vedder added such depth to the visuals with his music.

The movie is an adaptation of a book by Jon Krakauer which describes the tale of Christopher McCandless and his journey to Alaska and the adventure that he anticipated. I guess this will have to go on the list of books to read now.

He left family and career and money and well everything behind to achieve his journey. What he realized came too late in an entry in one of his books where he wrote "happiness only real when shared". How sad, this broken young man wanting to get away from it all and realizing that he could not have happiness without sharing it with someone.

I was deeply moved by the film and the story. I am also reminded that the journey is not meant to be alone. It's ok to have alone time, such as today, but this is not the way it was meant to be. Chris figured it out just a little too late. A small stream turned into a rushing torrent and that was his undoing. He could see the redemption on the other side and he couldn't get to it.

I wonder if there is an undoing for me. Or is there a lesson. I believe that there's always a lesson, I can't go it alone, can you? We need others, friends, family, lovers even strangers and we need to let them in. Tear down the walls and break the doors and open up.