I was going to post Eddie Vedder's version of "Hard Sun" from the Into The Wild soundtrack on Saturday. Watching the video, which contains clips from the film, I was struck quite hard by it. You see, if I had my way, back in the dim days of my life between college and seminary, I could have been Chris McCandless.
Since I was in high school, I had a dream of hiking across the country. Not hitch-hiking, but hiking, getting away from people, from civilization. I wanted to see what I could see. Of course, I had no idea what that would really entail. Mountains, rivers, rain, snow, wild animals, hunger, thirst - none of that entered my calculations. I may not have aimed for Alaska, but one does not need to aim for the extremes to face the threat posed by such an "adventure". I have watched the video several times over the past couple days, and I can't escape the fact that, had I been a bit more stubborn, I might well have ended up facing a similar fate. I don't know, now, whether I can watch this movie, certainly not with any equanimity.
Anyway, here's the song and video. Now, I have to figure out something else to do for Saturday!
