Into the Wild

As to when i shall visit civilization, it will not be soon. I think. I have not tired of the wilderness; rather i enjoy its beauty and the vagrant life l lead, more keenly all the time. I prefer the saddle to the streetcar and star sprinkled sky to a roof, the obscure and difficult trail, leading into the unknown, to any paved highways, and the deep peace of the wild to the discontent bred by cities.

Do you blame me then for staying here, where i feel that i belong and am one with the world around me? It is true that i miss intelligent companionship, but there are so few with whom i can share the things that mean so much to me that i have learned to contain myself. It is enough that i am surrounded with beauty

Even from you scant description, i know that i could not bear the routine and humdrum of the life that you are forced to lead. I don't think i could ever settle down. I have known too much of the depths of life already and i would prefer anything to an anticlimax


While the following passage was not written by Chris McCandless himself, it explains how one could understand the need to escape away from civilization of as Anne Bronte would put it , "sick of mankind and their disgusting ways" , while i suppose she meant it to be a feminist polemic, it holds true in the society we sometimes live in today and it would be a reference to more than just a particular gender but a blanket accusation for every strata of the society. If you have not read or watched the movie "into the wild" , i recommend that you go take a look and perhaps understand why a physical escape from reality is sometimes not only necessary but an imperative to reach an understanding with nature rather than being in constant conflict with the state of mankind.