Life Lessons from "Into the Wild"

The other night, a group of my girlfriends and I gathered together for a movie night. Our gracious host made dinner for us, then we watched “Into the Wild.” Released on DVD in early March, it’s a movie that Sean Penn had been wanting to make for something like ten years. Based on a true story, it’s about a privileged boy, Chris McCandless, who goes off into the wild , rejecting materialism and elitism. He burns cash, gives away his life’s savings and insists that he can survive without money. He rejects the notion that money is power, or, perhaps more accurately, could care less even if it is.

He begins his journey shortly after graduating with honors from Emory University in Georgia. He spends a good deal of time alone, wandering around the western half of the United States, picking up odd jobs here and there, kayaking down the Colorado River (all the way into Mexico), jumping trains and showering via farmland sprinkler systems. He ends up trapped in Fairbanks, Alaska and ultimately has to assume responsibility for his choices.

The post graduate soul searching trip is nothing new. In fact, I chose to take one after college, but my trip had some notable differences. My journey was an organized, university-based trip to Florence, Italy to study art and architecture. Okay, it’s not the same as going into the wild, but it served a similar purpose (without the danger). I was an idealistic young woman who craved more education as well as adventure and independent world travel (i.e., without a parent). While there, I took side trips to places of astonishing beauty like Cinque Terre and Lucca. Those excursions provided plenty of opportunities to ponder, reflect on, and write about life. I met so many different kinds of people, from all walks of life. I decided then that I would always be open to other people’s points of view and would respect people, no matter what they did for a living. I learned invaluable lessons during that time. I remember standing on the edge of a cliff in Cinque Terre , absolutely mesmerized by my surroundings and then, an instant later, thinking, “Boy, this would be so much more fun if I were sharing this experience with someone.”

I can relate to Chris’s desire to go to a world where natural beauty matters more than money, and people speak to each other in straightforward, candid ways, never wondering whether their acquaintances are being opportunistic. And I appreciate solitude. I really do. I need it to refuel myself. But I never felt the kind of intense calling that McCandless apparently did. His tortured soul needed to make sense of a world separate and apart from the one in which he was raised. I get that. I just wish he could have found peace sooner. Maybe his story can help other people. That’s probably why Penn wanted to make the movie.

Here are the most important lessons I took away from the movie:

If you’re going to challenge yourself to live in the wild, then spend enough time preparing yourself with courses like NOLS . McCandless was a very bright young guy. The fact that he was relatively unprepared for this daring adventure is a little surprising to me. The first year I can understand, but when you start going into the second year, I start shaking my head a little bit …

It really does matter how you treat your kids. It affects them. For a very long time. In ways you can’t even imagine. (The film suggests that his parents were unaware of (or at least careless about) the impact of their actions on their kids).

Forgiveness is love. It’s criticallly important to our lives and happiness. (I think it was Hal Holbrook’s character that said something like that near the end of the movie). It’s so true. Nobody’s perfect. The power of forgiveness can’t be overstated.

Happiness isn’t real unless it’s shared. (I think that one’s straight from McCandless’s journal and the thought that occurred to me in Italy).

Those are all valuable lessons from a fine movie. I just wish it had a different ending.

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