Last week I watched "Into the Wild" on DVD and couldn't help thinking back to my own post high school experience. For anyone who hasn't seen the movie, it's based on Jon Krakauer's non-fiction book about Christopher McCandless, who died at age 24 in the Alaskan wilderness. I didn't read the book, but the film definitely painted a portrait of a young man alienated from his parents (who are portrayed very harshly), alienated from society and blinded by his own youthful idealism.

When I was 17, I left Nashville to live in Eugene, Oregon, where I was to attend the University of Oregon. I was an active environmentalist in high school and wanted to go to college somewhere where I could continue that work. After working at a summer camp near Salem, I decided I would work for another six months and become an Oregon resident. My parents were in the middle of a messy divorce, and I'm sure part of me was angry at my dad and knew that taking time off would really piss him off. When I did go to school, six months later, I became very radicalized -- participating in direct actions around environmental issues with groups like Earth First (I was never arrested) and basically believing, like many 60s-era radicals before me, that the only way to create change was to do something revolutionary. I believed that our country and capitalism were fundamentally flawed and remember telling my parents that I didn't really see the point of finishing college just to be a part of "the system." I didn't burn my money and decide to live in an old growth forest, but I did put myself in a dangerous situation by blocking logging roads with giant boulders (the loggers weren't too happy about it).

I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this post except to say that radical idealism can be as dangerous or self destructive as fundamentalism -- in Christopher's case, he cut himself off completely from his family, including his sister (who he appeared to be close with), and ultimately died. If radical idealism is fueled by personal pain and alienation and becomes a place for youth to hide out or channel their anger and frustration, the results can be regrettable. Still, I'll never forget my own moments (like the ones in the movie where Christopher is standing on a mountain top arms outstretched) taking in the awesome beauty of the old growth stands in Opal Creek, feeling like I would do anything to save them.

Did any of you have your own experience with "radical idealism" when you were younger? If you work with teen activists, have you run into this young person?

Posted by anastasia