>>183171>but he was thoughYou don't know that because you didn't know him. He was just a guy who had a dream, and while his faults lie within his lack of foresight and planning, at the very least there's admiration to be found in someone actually willing to do what they want to in life. Thoreau put it best, really, with "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation."
I don't think people should villify McKandless because of his stupidy, and I also don't think people should romanticize his efforts into something greater than they were. He was, objectively speaking, a person following their single biggest dream and desire. You can say that it got him killed, but on the other hand, what's to say of yourself if your own ambitions are so small that there's no great risk involved? He just did it, which is more than most people can say.
