INTO THE WILD

into the wild
YouTube Into The Wild


Where to start...... where to start.

this past weekend i picked up the movie and watched, heck the whole family watched it.. yesterday i picked up the book and tonight i finished it.

if you have not heard of the story of Christopher McCandless aka Alex Supertramp, it is one to be looked into. usually i am one to read the book and then watch the movie. in this case i am glad that i watched and then read. with the movie i felt so connected to what he was trying to do and gain. although i went to the book for more input it was very similar to the movie but with the movie Sean Penn did a great job showing us more of what could be going on in Alex's mind and soul. especially now that everyone should be on a bandwagon for conserving, conserving of almost everything. although i tend to think that i am at one with my consumption, it never hurts to ponder other ways to live, reuse, recycle, or to do without.

now for some of the quotes that i found to make me ponder... ponder my own existence here in a far off land.

"you are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living." p. 57


"But have you noticed the slight curl at the end of Sam II's mouth, when he looks at you? It means that he didn't want you to name him Sam II, for one thing, and for two other things it means that he has a sawed-off in his left pant leg , and a bailing hook in his right pant leg, and is ready to kill you with either one of them, given the opportuinty, The father is taken aback. What he usually says, in such a confrontation, is "I changed your diapers for you, little snot." This is not the right thing to say. First, it is not true (mothers change nine diapers out of ten), and second, it instantly reminds Sam II of what he is about. He is mad about being small when you were big, but no, that's not it, he is mad about being helpless when you were powerful, but no, not that either, he is mad about being contingent when you were necessary, not quite it, he is insane because when he loved you, you didn't notice." Donal Barthelme, The Dead Father p. 145


Oh, how one wishes sometimes to escape from the meaningless dullness of human eloquence, from all those sublime phrases, to take refuge in nature, apparently so inarticulate, or in the wordlessness of long, grinding labor, or sound sleep, of true music, or of a human understanding rendered speechless by emotion!

McCadless starred and bracketed the paragraph and circled "refuge in nature" in black ink.
Next to "And so it turned out that only a life similar to the life of those around us. merging with it without a ripple, is genuine life, and that an unshared happiness is not happiness.... And this was most vexing of all," he noted, "HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED." p. 189


take the time to watch the movie. you will not be disappointed.