Hindering Instincts

“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 dangerous 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.” 

          I believe that Chris says that every human being is born with the instincts to explore. Man kind is a race driven curiosity, adventurous tendencies, the endurance towards new things, and be spontaneous. Although in modern society we are comforted by law, rules, and security. This hinders humanity to follow their intuition, they are willed to stay within their comfort zones. They feel secure with the knowledge of their futures. That an unknown and unpredictable future would be unfavorable and filled with regret. Humanity knows full well that nothing in life is free or without consequences. And so can one conclude that fear prevents us from doing what we meant to do. Only a brave person, a person with nothing to lose, a person with everything to gain, a person with compassion can do what Chris did.

          Chris was true to his word he abide by his own rules. Chris stripped himself of all security, conformity, and conservatism so that it would not hold him back. He discarded these things so that he wouldn't have a reason to return. He made his life hard, he filled it with obstacles, he made sure that his future would remain uncertain, unsecured, and unpredictable so that each day would be adventurous and free. He went our of his way to make unpredictable things happen, so that he'd encounter new things, experience new feelings, meet new people. This would be another reason on why he'd leave people when he felt as though things became too comforting. He wanted a hard life style, and to 'see a new sun everyday.'

          My life has been conditioned to life by security, conformity and conservatism. I was raised to believe in the social status, that the life I built so far was the life I was to keep building. That the path I've paved so far will continue towards normality, towards an average job, average life style, and average death. If I was to have meet Chris he would've informed me of my flaws. He'd rant on the unjust society, the society that defined normality, the society that hindered bolder steps, a society that is becoming corrupt. He'd probably encourage me to rethink my life style and try to change it. Try to be bolder, noticeable, and ignore those that disagree with changing humanity. He'd want to see change so by changing one person, that person would change two others, from then on slowly would humanity see its own flaws and attempt to fix it.

What He's Seen

Throughout all of McCandless's adventures and what he read it was clear that he wanted to be out in the open and away from society. He read passages about, "American West as Living Space.", "No Outlet for the Quiet Life.", and historic views of nature. He was amendment of finding a path out of limitations and run amok with nature.

A BETRAYAL
By:Shelley Sims

If I had but one wish I would give it to you.
For you see, there is nothing in my life I wish to undo.

Every mountain climbed and road journeyed down
Has made me the person who stands before you now.

At the many mistakes I did make,
Oh at the countless wrong turns did I take.

So from these things I now glean,
May I ask you just one thing?

Who are you to judge my life
And determine what's wrong and what's right?

For every decision I've made has defined who I am
And it's not your place to pass judgment on the race that I've ran.

Rather, let me hold up the mirror so you may clearly see
How each one of your negative comments further separates you from me.

At first you look away, you don't even try.
Could it be that you would rather believe a lie?

Conviction slowly builds up inside
And you soon realize this is something from which you can no longer hide.

And what is it in that mirror in which you see?
Do you see the truth of who you really are in all its monstrosity?

Tears begin to fill your eyes and then soon you see
That this whole time it was about your own pain and never me.

I forgive you for the pain you have caused my heart.
I only wish you could have been genuine from the start.

The time has come for us to part ways.
I pray you know and accept the truth for the rest of your days.

However, for the lies you told
I pray all hell unfolds
To devour your black and wretched soul. 

This poem relates to Christopher McCandless, for it defined him and his pain. When he figured that his parents were keeping a secret life he felt the pain of betrayal. He was tainted with blackness. But when he was given the chance he took it. He was the person that was built up over time. He didn't just decide out of the blue to be adventurous  No, instead he was molded with the desire burning within to escape as he was. To get as far away from human society, the race on whom he lost all hope with.

FREEDOM
By: Natasha ManginleyFrancis

To be free
Free from PAIN 
Free from SUFFERING
Free from CRIME
Free from DESTRUCTION

Oh! To be free
I can feel the freedom
I can taste the freedom
I can smell the freedom
I can envision the freedom

I wish to live till the day
The day we have total freedom
Yes! Total Freedom
Freedom from physical, emotional, and mental captivation

The shackles must break someday
If not this day
Then let it be one great day
When I get to Witness, this greatness

Meanwhile, this poem also relates to Christopher McCandless as it tells his goals and objectives. Christopher planned to escape humanity, escape society and government. He had witnessed first hand how people were corrupted and imperfect. He sought difference in people, looking for the good but was only rewarded with evil. He went into the wild and observed nature, fighting daily for survival. It was not easy what he did, but by doing it was he able to see the beauty of life on Earth. He interpreted life as it was meant to be seen.

Through my Eyes: Into Colorado

June 29th, 20XX
          I stand, dressed in a set of clothes I deemed worthy of protecting me in my journey. My eyes drift down casting upon my feet. I am not upset with my life, quite the opposite. I'm proud of the life I've lead so far but it is here that I chose to change. I must prove to myself that no problem is beyond my reach. I'm not chasing a life, I'm making a life. And so I must walk out into the world to find my true self. There is no turning back. I silently vow to myself that if I cannot accomplish what I've set to do, then I will not return. And so I take a step forward, this step symbolizes my commitment and beginning.

July 13th, 20XX
          Its been two weeks already and I've petaled for hours nonstop. My legs are literally killing me, I want to take a break but I can't. I'm afraid. I'm currently passing through a notoriously violent city. I'm afraid that I'll end up getting attacked, or worse killed. And I know that in my final moments if I were granted it, I would regret ever making this trip, more so ever thinking about it. And so I petal on, fear running through the coarse of my veins.
          Exhaustion finally over took me. I swore that I'll stay only for a bit and afterwards I'd rush straight to my bike and petal, petal far from society. My thoughts froze when I heard a 'click' from behind. Slowly I turned my head around to meet the end of a gun. He held it high in the air pointed at me, my breathing turned erratic and my body stiffened with fear. "Give me your money." he grumbled. Wordlessly I pulled out a twenty dollar bill, the rest of my money was packed in my book bag which clung helplessly to my bike.
          He snatched it, but the gun was still pointed at me. Slowly he strode to me. My fear dissipating into anger, he got what he asked for, why was he still here? A memory came into my head, a memory of my father teaching me how to knock a gun out of someones hands. My father was a funny man, he deemed it necessary to learn self defense among other things. As soon as he was close enough I whipped my hands forward with the power of desperation and twisted his hand. The gun was slapped to the ground and quickly I elbowed him in the face. Using the chance I ran to my bike, my goal was to pedal far away from here.
          Before I could get a couple of feet away from this dangerous man something tugged harshly at my leg and I found myself facing the floor. I yelled in pain, turned and tried to kick him. But I didn't need to, someone had come to help me. So the dangerous man was out as a light bulb. There were two people who had come to assist me. A man and a woman, the man seemed to be average height, with short black hair which seemed to defy gravity. He had pale skin and wore casual clothing. The woman was almost identical, were they related? But instead she was a bit shorter, she had long wavy black hair and wore sophisticated clothing. A hand lifted me onto my feet.
          "Are you alright?" The man asked, his voice was a little deep but in the calm and soothing way.
          "Yeah, thanks." I said.
          "We heard your yell. You must be a passerby." He stated.
          "I am, how do you know?"
          He could only laugh, "Well, the people that live here are all friendly. All you got to do is talk to the right set of people. I'm one of them, the right set of people I mean. The names Vel and that there is my twin sister Cel." I nodded and introduced myself. "Well than, would you like a proper tour of this glorious city?"
          "I'd like that."
          "You need a place to stay? You can stay with us." Cel said, Vel nodding.
          "Well, if you insist." This made everyone laugh.

          It was on that day that I learned that there are evil and good surrounding all four corners of the universe. All you had to do was ask to find them, they aren't hiding. They're all in plain sight waiting to help those in need. I stayed with Val and Cal for a week, promised to return and continued on my journey. I still had a long way to go and more to learn. But I guess that now I'll have something less to be afraid of, the fear of being alone and threatened.

Down in the Deep

The mermaid that gracefully overtook the ocean with her beauty and elegance was tragically taken. Her time had come and people from all over are in mourn of her death. But the question arises; was her death an accident or a murder? I plan to find out. With only little evidence, join me in the quest of seeking the death of the mermaid. Based upon, "The Rapture of the Deep, The Deadly Dive." by Gary Smith.

In my opinion I believe that Audrey was murdered. Let's recall to when her record was broken in 2000 and the only way that she'd be able to reclaim that record was if she either came close to Pepin's record - which was the world record for both sexes - or surpassed it. She wanted to surpass it but not without upsetting Pepin. Of course he was against the idea of her surpassing him, but after much thought he encouraged her to surpass him. He wanted her to join him under the sea, for them to connect. And so began her death story.

I'm not implying that Pepin murdered Audrey, no he loved her too much for that. I mean who else would mourn over the one that could understand him. He almost quit his profession, and the most important fact was that after her death he replaced Olokun - the god of the ocean - with Audrey. She became the one he spoke to everyday, and he had her drawing tattooed to his leg. His love for her was strong, so he couldn't of had killed her. No it was someone else, it was somebody nobody expected. Lets go to that day, that horrid day.

Pepin had a premonition, the gods told him to cancel the dive, that something ominous was to occur. But he couldn't there were 15 boats awaiting to with take spectators, reporters, and cameramen for the Ocean Woman movie. He did a final check of important equipment, he checked the lifting equipment to see if it would inflate and bring her to the surface. When he saw that it worked he shut it down without checking the pressure for the equipment. Of course this would indicate that the only reason that she wasn't able to rise to the surface was because the lift bag was malfunctioning.

On that day there were many people at the sea watching Audrey. Whats to say that one of them hadn't messed with her equipment to kill her? Remember that she was to surpass the world record for both sexes. Perhaps people weren't ready for a woman to surpass men. So they messed with her equipment thus killing her, and silencing the woman athletes. During the 2000's there was many discrimination against the sexes, that women were to stand behind men. With Audrey threatened to break that invisible rule she was silenced.

Of course there's no evidence that points to anybody or any theories so it was and still is classified as an accident. Perhaps we will never know the truth, but its what we believe that makes it count.