Stars In The Wild
Tiny stars appear like glitter sprinkled on the night sky. Yet morning comes and the rising sun reminds us: Stars are giants.
Krakauer’s Into The Wild was on the reading list for a class I took in college. When I first read the novel, my young brain was still busy grasping the previous book we just finished. Also, I was busy worrying about the next novel I should be getting into. My brain was a mixture of characters and plots from various unrelated stories. Yet many years later, Into The Wild endured.
Christopher McCandless, also known as Alexander Supertramp, was the subject of the story. Fearless and extreme, he lived looking for ultimate freedom in search of what it meant to truly exist. He said, “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure.”
Chris was charming and made a lot of friends on his travels. He made a genuine impact among them as he was raw and unpretentious. He burnt his IDs and cash as a display of defiance to society. He donated his money in the bank to a charity fighting hunger but, ironically, died of starvation. To read Chris' strong will and confidence unravel in the book when he abandoned his life and adventured to Alaska was intriguing.
As we finished discussing, our professor invited us to walk around campus and think about Chris. Our university was in Hawaii and it was not exactly Alaska, but we were surrounded by nature in our own tropical way. So as instructed, I went outside hoping to comprehend, even for a little bit, what it felt like to be vulnerable in the wild. It was late afternoon; the stars were beginning to fill the sky when I looked up.
Chris lived like a star, but some may say he was just an arrogant young man misdirected by idealism. A tiny star in a sea of many other stars. Yet a closer look of his life, his very journals, his personality, and his bold choice to live the life he wanted will reveal: Stars are giants.
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