In 1992, Chris McCandless, was found dead in a sleeping bag on a bus in the middle of Alaska at the age of twenty four. McCandless died due to poisoning from a wild sweat pea and starvation while he was hitch hiking out there in the wild. This young man was a college graduate from Emory University, right here in Atlanta, Ga and his family was from Annandale, Virginia. Now why would a fellow from a prestigious background even bother with dangerous trips like that? He claimed that he wanted to "invest a new life for himself, one in which he would be free to wallow in unfiltered experience." He wanted to prove his freedom and his ableness to take care of himself to his parents, so much that he abruptly stopped calling and checking in with them each time he went on one of his adventure trips around North America. In fact, he hadn't spoken to his parents or his beloved younger sister, Carine, for at least two years prior to his untimely death.
On a smaller scale, this is exactly how college students' mindsets are. It is a well-known and widely accepted fact that teenagers, even those in middle school and high school, want a sense of freedom. They want as little parentl advisement as possible and think that they can handle anything that comes their way on their way without any help. As wrong as this mindset is, it still continues to affect teenagers all across the country, quite possibly even the world. McCandless was just a stubborn young man that was trying to find himself by distancing himself from civilization and "becoming lost in the wild." Although his was a more extreme case, this is how young adults across college campuses in the United States want to express themselves: by being more self-reliant and without any parental forces. McCandless was so stubborn. He was "absolutely positive [that he would not] run into anything [he could not] deal with on [his] own." He ademently opposed for any sort of help from people that he encountered during his trips and he even got rid of his watch, map, and went as far as to burn all of the money he had on him, around one hundred sixty dollars worth. Young people these days also act the same way, on a lesser scale. They do not want any help and they think that everything is possible to do on their own. They are so stubborn that they become blind, based on passion, and unconvincable, much like McCandless was. They are "rash and incautious to the point of foolhardiness." Young, restless, and void of much common sense. Chris McCandless is the epitome of young people these days, to an extreme of course. This stubborness and dedication is what accounts for the success of youngsters growing into responsible adults through experiences and lessons learned. Unfortunately, for twenty four year old Christopher McCandless, it ended with his premature death...the death of an innocent.
On a smaller scale, this is exactly how college students' mindsets are. It is a well-known and widely accepted fact that teenagers, even those in middle school and high school, want a sense of freedom. They want as little parentl advisement as possible and think that they can handle anything that comes their way on their way without any help. As wrong as this mindset is, it still continues to affect teenagers all across the country, quite possibly even the world. McCandless was just a stubborn young man that was trying to find himself by distancing himself from civilization and "becoming lost in the wild." Although his was a more extreme case, this is how young adults across college campuses in the United States want to express themselves: by being more self-reliant and without any parental forces. McCandless was so stubborn. He was "absolutely positive [that he would not] run into anything [he could not] deal with on [his] own." He ademently opposed for any sort of help from people that he encountered during his trips and he even got rid of his watch, map, and went as far as to burn all of the money he had on him, around one hundred sixty dollars worth. Young people these days also act the same way, on a lesser scale. They do not want any help and they think that everything is possible to do on their own. They are so stubborn that they become blind, based on passion, and unconvincable, much like McCandless was. They are "rash and incautious to the point of foolhardiness." Young, restless, and void of much common sense. Chris McCandless is the epitome of young people these days, to an extreme of course. This stubborness and dedication is what accounts for the success of youngsters growing into responsible adults through experiences and lessons learned. Unfortunately, for twenty four year old Christopher McCandless, it ended with his premature death...the death of an innocent.
2 comments:
Interesting take Rebecca, do you think that ultimately what he did boiled down to a kind of selfishness?
interesting picture too :)
Well I don't know that I would call it selfishness so much as stubborness. And thank you!
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