"...McCandless would wander the seedier quarters or Washington, chatting with prostitues and homeless people, buying them meals, earnestly suggesting ways they might improve their lives" (Krakauer 103).
Inspiration or Fool
When we talk about why Chris felt such a need to go out into the wild with just his raw self we often point to the environment he was raised in. However, what if that is just a fraction of the method behind his madness. Many people who interacted with Chris said he was strange for taking such interest in some of the lowest class citizens in our society. Maybe he wasn't weird; maybe he just saw the world for what it is in each person's own life rather than the stigma that surrounds them. Chris was always searching for a deeper meaning rather than just accepting things for their face value. That is something that we can all take away from this and apply to our lives. In order to make a difference in something that is important to us we must stop taking everything for face value. Dig deeper, find out what makes a situation the way it is, dig to the root of the problem, and then change it. My idea of making a difference isn't pulling a Chris and defying all structure and abandoning my life in the wild but it sure does involve his thought process. He looked at the bigger picture and realized that life is so much more than just the life he lived and perceived. I was most definitely inspired by the way he deconstructed stigmas to discover the real truth of different people and lives.
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