SO yeah, I came across this article on the Toronto Star website (since at university, I don't have much money for going out and buying the paper, so I've just started looking up the days events).
I guess the first thing that crossed my mind was Into the Wild. I loved that book, it made me really question people like Christopher McCandless and the man in this article. What makes them do what they do? In the case of McCandless it felt like he was almost lost within society, he wasn't sure how to fit in and cope with the Western views of life and culture. Which is not puzzling at all. Our culture is based on materialism and stuff. Gaining stuff. I'm definitely not going to say I don't buy into that, because I do. But I can see how that would not be the way some people would want to live. Why are material goods so important to us? The more things you can say you possess the higher status you gain in society; is this right? Should we base our whole life on accumulating goods, so we feel better about out self-worth?
I had my first experience with this when I was very little and I read a book called My Side of the Mountain. It was written in 1959 by Jean Craighead George. George also wrote four sequels, the last one was written in 2007. These sorts of recounts whether they are fiction or not, still inspire people to enjoy nature and the world, and to appreciate all of the fantastic things the world can accomplish without the help of man. But also the more extreme end of that; and perhaps these people were naive; but more tragically, perhaps they knew exactly what they were getting into and still failed to understand the power of loneliness and how insignificant one really is.
Anyway, if you haven't checked out the movie Into the Wild, well, I suggest reading the book, but either way, the movie captures the book very well. Take a look at the trailer.
(Plus Eddie Vedder does the soundtrack, it's amazing.)
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