Why do you all have such a NARROW way of thinking?
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thegr8defender — 12 years ago(January 19, 2014 10:29 AM)
I think the sad part of this story is the lack of preparation and maturity. Yes, you believe that your life should be lived on the road, away from society, good on you and god bless. But be prepared to live that way. Get back to nature but for the love of pete respect nature too. That heedless, headstrong virtual suicide is what most people see as the tragedy. Sadly, all the grand ideals and philosphies fall flat in the face of cold cruel reality.
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MJohnathen — 12 years ago(January 20, 2014 01:28 AM)
None of those reasons are why hes an idiot, hes an idiot because he was inexperienced and went to one of the worst possible areas to try and survive on his own and to top that off the situation that ended up killing him wasn't all that dire at all if he had infact been experienced.
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chewie86 — 11 years ago(July 30, 2014 03:29 PM)
To be fair his goal was to live, and by doing so his way not what society tells us,
His life was cut short and he could have made so called better decision but to him he lived, probably more than most of us will.
His parents lived the life in which we all believe is the common goal
? get an education
? find a good job
? fall in love
? have kids
? live happily ever after
His parents did this, lived comfortly but guess what they were miserable and in doing so encouraged Chris to find another route in life.
Not to say he didn't have issues I mean watch his parents slug it out, finding out about his dads other life has to be messed up, all in all he did things on his terms and by doing that regardless of the outcome I would like to think he'd be happy with that -
ckmsaxophone — 12 years ago(January 20, 2014 05:46 PM)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the end didn't he want to be helped out/re-enter society to some capacity? I don't know that he regretted what he did & the "adventures" that he had (I'm guessing probably not), but at the conclusion of his life I think he realized that he was wrong in some ways, because of the quote "happiness is only real when shared." Now, I think Chris did a brave thing going off into the wild like he did, and I wouldn't necessarily call him an idiot for that. In fact, I wouldn't call him an idiot at all. I think he did make the mistake of isolating himself for an extended period of time (I mean, come on, he could at least given his familyespecially his sistersome parting words even if he had no plans to talk to them afterwards). But mistakes are mistakes & a person is not necessarily an idiot for making mistakes. I think one lesson from Chris' story is to live the life you want to live, however unconventional it may be. But another lesson is to not intentionally hurt others. I imagine Chris's odyssey really struck those who were close to him, not having any idea where he was or what happened to him until after he died. He could have written them at least to say he was okay. In the end, I think he realized this but it was too late.
Please don't call out people who disagree with you "prejudicial freak" or their opinions "stupid."
"I must express myself." - Delia Deetz -
CaZSuede — 11 years ago(April 27, 2014 12:02 PM)
I agree with you. People ask how ill-prepared he was. My belief is that in life, how can you be prepared for things you have never experienced before?. I have trekked Asia, including places that I've read about, but no amount of "reading" or seeing on the internet would ever prepare me for what I actually experienced.
There is no guidebook on doing what he did, no matter how many books you read or reference. The only guidebook that exists is through experience.
I wonder if people would think he was such an "idiot" if he walked out of the wilderness and went on to write his own book? -
fakeslashdash6 — 11 years ago(August 14, 2014 07:22 AM)
He was an idiot because he didn't just hurt his parents feelings, he gave them one of the worst torments known to man - Not having any idea what the heck happened to your child.
You see, it's not that he disappointed them by not going to college. He was just a pathetic coward that left them without telling them a single word. For all they knew, he might have been kidnapped, tortured, raped, killed and what not. They had no idea what happened. Do you have any idea what that does to a person?
If he wanted to go out, fine, let him go out and do his thing but he could have told them what he was up to. Heck, he was such a pathetic coward he didn't even send them a single letter telling them "I decided to just go elsewhere, bye"
So they would at least know it was his decision.
Nope, he simply took the pathetic selfish coward's way out.
Furthermore, he was constantly acting like an utter buffoon it's not even funny. He starts off by burning off his money - you don't want money, how about donating it to starving children? Then what? He finds out that he does need money so he goes working for McDonald. Geesh, if only he had any money to start with - oh wait!
I'm not even getting into his death that was the result of complete stupidity and lack of preparation.
Trying to praise and idolize this moron for going into a dangerous territory unprepared is about as dumb as praising some kid who decides he wants to run into the street during rush hour just for the thrill of it.
It doesn't make the kid a genius, a philosopher, an "outside the box" thinker or what not. It just makes the kid dead.
It's not what he did that makes him an idiot.
It's how he did it that makes him an idiot.
Plenty of people decide to just go and live "cavemen" style in the wild. There's nothing wrong with that. But learn a thing or two about how to do it first, get some experience (it's not like he was lacking time) and no reason to torment the people around you for it.