Monday 23 May 2011

STUFF IT!

Stuff.

We fill our lives with it. We are defined by it.

Whether we like it or not; whether we mean it or not, we all judge people/ people judge you by the clothes on your back, the phone in your pocket, the car in your drive, the house you live in. A house you cram with even more stuff – more clothes, more gadgets, more STUFF so that we are better than our neighbour and we can impress our friends and passing strangers.

We work in jobs most of us despise  (if the stats are to be believed)to pay for this stuff and then feeling miserable we buy even more stuff to try and fill the hole caused by the misery of working a 9 to 5 that leaves us feeling completely unfulfilled. Then we have to work longer hours in the job we can’t stand to pay the credit card bill for all the stuff we’ve bought to make us feel better about ourselves. Then we look for people to blame for making it so easy for us to fall into debt.

If Carl Marx were still alive today, he’d change his famous quote. You know the one, where he said that religion was the opiate of the masses? Now he’d be using the C word.

Consumerism.

‘What’s eating your gusset?’  You might ask.

Don’t worry I’m not going to ditch the day job and go live in a mud hut somewhere –  however tempted – this is my response to a book I’ve been reading.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a fascinating and beautifully written account of a young man called Chris McCandlish who vanished into the Alaskan wilderness in 1992. From a well-to-do family, loving parents and siblings, he gave all his money to charity, abandoned his car and possessions, burnt all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new/ old existence for himself. Four months later his decomposed body was found by a hunter. He was 24.

If you’re annoyed that I’ve given the story away, don’t be. Chris’ fate is posted in the blurb on the back of the book. In any case, when his story came out in the early nineties he became a bit of  a cause celebre.

He had his detractors. People queued up after the event to say what a stupid, selfish, arrogant whacko. How could he do something like that to his family?

And sure, if my son did something like that I don’t think I could live with myself.

There is a however, however. Krakauer’s depiction if the young man in question lets us get under the skin of McCandlish and see what he was trying to achieve. The writer goes back to his old friends, his family and the people McCandlish met on his odyssey and provides a view of his motivation. All of these people without exception – regardless of the length of time of their meeting – were deeply affected by his intelligence, moral standing, empathy and fortitude. One old fella even wanted to adopt him.

McCandlish was not some bumbling dreamer. When the writer examined his life he found a young man who was preparing himself for such an event. For years before he was pushing himself, testing his stamina and endurance through a number of trials so that when he did enter the Alaskan wilderness with nothing but clothes and a backpack he could deal with whatever came his way.

In Jon Krakauer, this intrepid young man has found a sympathetic biographer and being an explorer himself, someone uniquely qualified to take his movements and extrapolate sound motivations from them.

This is a fascinating book, for all kinds of reasons. If you haven’t read it, get your arse to a bookshop now and dive in.

12 comments:

  1. I read Into The Wild about a year ago. It is a haunting, poignant read and it made me cry. I saw the movie version a short time afterwards and was impressed that they had actually stayed true to the concept of the book.

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  2. I love that sentence from Marx :) Believe it or not, here in my country, during the communism all students had a subject called Marxism in schools :)

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  3. Janice, I had a wee lump in my throat too. And wasn't the movie excellent? A slow-burner but faithful to the book.

    Dezmond, I believe you. Have you seen the movie or read this book?

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  4. Oh and Dez, I saw a great t-shirt the other day you might like. It said "Karl Marx was right all along".

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  5. sounds great. I will duly purchase. hope I dont cry though !

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  6. You may well cry, R. Just keep a wee pack of tissues to hand in case.

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  7. The DVD is on my shelf just waiting to be watched. It has just jumped up a few places in the queue.

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  8. The movie has more of an "indie" feel to it, which the story kinda needs. I'll be interested to hear what you think, Ricky

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  9. Stop doing this, Michael. Now I have to find time to read yet another of your recommendations AND watch the bloody DVD. Intriguing review.

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  10. Thanks for mentioning this book, Michael, which I haven't read yet. Although it's a sad end to his life, I kind of like the idea behind his actions.

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  11. Bill, I fully expect that you'll be yomping across the Grampians when you finish it. Just be sure to take plenty of food. We don't want some farmer to come across you dessicated husk.

    Yes, Rosemary, he was clearly a remarkable young man.

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  12. "a remarkable young man" - and I've just realised I sound as old as Methuselah - or Bill, even.

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