
Thursday, April 23
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, it it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to ‘glorify God and enjoy him forever’”
~Thoreau, Where I Lived and What I Lived For
As human beings, we are each masterpieces. Each of us is worthy of love, dignity, and respect.
Journal: Write about the characteristics you have that make you a unique masterpiece. Tell me what is good about you. Discuss at least three things about you that make you worthy of love, dignity, and respect. Don’t be shy! Brag on yourself!
Friday, April 24
“Alex used to sit at the bar in the Cabaret and read that belt for hours on end, says Westerberg, “like he was translating hieroglyphics for us. Each picture he’d carved into that leather had a long story behind it.” When McCandless hugged Borah goodbye, she says, “I noticed he was crying. That frightened me. He wasn’t planning on being gone all that long; I figured he wouldn’t have been crying unless he intended to take some big risks and knew he might not be coming back. That’s when I started having a bad feeling that we wouldn’t never see Alex again.”
Into the Wild, Chapter 7
At the beginning of Into the Wild, not long after he begins his journey, Christopher McCandless has his only real possession, his crappy old car, washed away in a flood. From then on he must complete the rest of his journey by foot.
Journal: If you could wash away some things from your past and just start over again, what would you send away in the flood? What are some things you would hold on to if you could? What do you value enough to carry with you on your journey?