It's Better To Burn Out Than To Rot

In the new film, Into The Wild, Sean Penn adapts Jon Krakauer's book of the same title recounting the life of Chris "Alex" McCandless. McCandless, a wanderer, an adventurer, one of us, is one of my heros and I find great inspiration in his life and how loyal he was to his dream. I am curious to see the reaction Their World has to Our World and how McCandless' lifestyle and ultimate death are viewed-he died living his dream. Most people don't understand the life we have, we are viewed as fools, ignorant, crazy or simply outcasts. We live our dreams, we dont work for money or to have nice things. And to live this life the only way we know how, we must jump off a cliff everyday. We must take that risk and push things to the absolute limit for the rewards...


In a letter to Ron Franz, a driver who picked up McCandless hitch hiking and who became a great friend, McCandless writes:

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the 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 damaging 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. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty."