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I wrote an essay on Christopher McCandless (Who is a man who died in Alaska after "Living off the earth) Theres a book about him, which I read, Into The Wild. I strongly recommend everyone to read it. Its about his life out in the wild, hitch hiking his way around the United states. He lived such a fulfilled life. Anyways my essay was on
whether or not he died in vein and whether the life he lead was fulfilled. I got an A+ on it and my teacher read it in class.

But to day I was thinking back on what I said about living to make others happy and not yourself, and I looked at myself fully and realized that that's exactly what I do. I almost never do anything for myself, When someone says dont do this, I normally dont. I live for other peoples approval. I need it, I thrive off of it, and I wonder if thats why I'm so bitter towards people and the world. Is that why I wake up some days thinking about my life and how its passing me by and why I hate everyone for it. Its really not many peoples faults, Its my own. I dont do what I'm supposed to do, I sit and wait on the side lines and watch my life pass me by.


My essay: Adventure To Death
By Rebekah.


A spoiled brat who threw himself into the midst of danger, ‘living off the earth‘, as I’m sure Christopher McCandless said and thought. Only to be killed by a fluke accident by eating a berry that was covered in mold. Most people think of his death as tragic, to live such a fulfilling life, only to have it wrenched away by a berry. While others would call him ‘stupid’ and ‘an ignorant boy’, not taking into consideration that Chris McCandless did indeed have enough food to survive his Alaskan adventure. But I can’t help but wonder if Chris, or as he renamed himself, Alexander Supertramp, lived and died a fulfilled life out in the wild or did some part of him feel there was something missing.
What is a fulfilled life after all? Is it when you spend your days working your way up to food chain at work, receiving more money, buying a larger house and flashier cars? Or is it when you wake up in a dumpster, your only worry being to find food and shelter for the night. Is it happiness? Or success in some field.
I personally think your life is fulfilled when you wake up in the morning happy. When no matter where you are or what kind of trouble you’re in you’re happy with the way things in your life are turning out. When you’re spending your day doing the things you love to be doing. And when you look at Chris McCandless’ life it was past fulfilled. When he woke up on the streets or in the desert he was the happiest he had ever been because he was doing something he wanted to do. This is what he loved, camping out on the streets, living off of berries, hitchhiking and meeting new people. Christopher realized his life in college and at home, living a typical american life style was not for him so he left. He left that life behind and pursued a life that made him happy day after day, not matter what troubles he ran into on the way. I believe he lived the most fulfilled life anyone could ever hope to live. And I believe that for his death as well.
On trips like these, where a person takes their own little adventure and dies accidentally, people often wonder if their adventure was “worth dying for.” Not just because they had their whole life ahead of them but because of the tolls it takes on other peoples lives. Like their family and friends. Was it worth it to hurt so many people so that you could go off and live in the woods, only to die there alone? And I think so.
If you’re not taking any risks in your life because you’re afraid of that fluke accident that will cause those around you pain then what’s the point on living? You can not live to please other people; if someone says don’t climb a mountain and you don’t, you’ll end up hating that person because you never got the chance to even attempt something personally fulfilling. I believe that your own personal happiness is more important then the happiness of those around you. Even though what Chris McCandless did was extremely selfish he was happy and if he had been home working a nine to five job after college he would have been miserable, making those around him unhappy as well. So yes I think his adventure was well worth dying for. He did what he wanted to do, he was happy doing it, there wasn’t a better time to die then when he did.