Into the Wild

Mr. Hooter and I watched a very good movie the other night, called "Into the Wild", which has been on my mind ever since we watched it. It's based on the book "Into the Wild", which is based on the journals of Chris McCandless of how in the early 90's he abruptly left his affluent life after college, as well as family, to hit the road backpacking across the country to eventually reach Alaska to live in harmony with nature.

I remember this story from my high school days, when the discovery of his body in an old bus in a wilderness area of Alaska after an apparent death by starvation propelled his tale into the limelight. I was always fascinated by it...I don't really know why, as it seems clear that Chris was very idealistic and met his end by not being very smart. At the time, as well as now, his story is romanticized and he's become a cult figure and inspiration for many people taking off to backpack across the country, a lot of times making the crusade to the bus where his body was found, which is still there. If he hadn't written a journal, he'd just been forgotten as another crazy hippie. It's really a tragic story, but Chris had guts, and he had quite an interesting life in his last couple of years. I think that's why so many people, including myself, find the story really strikes a chord. I think whether we want to admit it or not, we all have the desire to break away from the mundane, from "society", and from the expected norm.

Or maybe that makes me, as one former co-worker put it..."quirky." Ever since I read the book "My Side of the Mountain" in grade school I've had the overwhelming desire to leave it all and go live in the woods, despite the fact that the more rational side of me knows that, like Chris, I'd find that kind of life isn't all sunshine and flowers. I felt the same way after watching a documentary a couple years ago about ski bums. Wow...I could do that...why not? I could really see myself in Colorado (pre Mr. Hooter of course) being a ski bum in winter, trout bum in summer, working odd jobs here and there to get the funds for both. Even hubby suggests every so often we go be ski/trout bums...but it's totally in jest. We don't have the guts. Besides...the pigs couldn't fit in the car, and Lucy only has three legs so she can't ski.

I guess I'm destined to live life pulled in two directions. On one side, the pull to go against the norms of society toward freedom, and on the other the desire to "nest", which is a malady that seems to resonate in my particular gender. The desire to carve out a nitch that's all my own, and that's permanent. Maybe I've got the best of both worlds, living out of the city surrounded by nature and my critters trying to do the homesteading thing. Either way, even though I can't (or won't) go traipsing off into the sunset with a backpack, I can still keep an adventurous spirit and never quit wondering "what if"...

This was probably my favorite part of the movie...Chris makes an illegal trip kayaking down the Colorado River. Apparently, you have to have a permit...which can take YEARS to get...all to kayak down a river. Though I suppose there are reasons, I found that as ridiculous and as oppressive as movie-Chris did...reminds me of the Socialism being currently crammed down our throats. But...that's another topic for another day...