Money Makes the World go Round

Christopher McCandless was a unique individual that attended and graduated from Emory University here in Atlanta back in 1990. McCandless viewed life differently than the majority of people do, and he thought in ways that many would consider odd. Chris was independent person who cherished the simpler things in life. For a great deal of is adult life he chose to live amongst pimps, prostitutes, and homeless people. He took numerous adventures throughout the country, and later his travels took him to Alaska where he died trying to live solely off the wild. Do I believe that a character like McCandless exist today or has society changed so much in the past 15 years that our primary goals are economic? It is in my opinion that a person like McCandless is less likely to exist today because yes people’s primary goal is economic.
My first reason why I believe that a person like Chris is less likely to exist today is because people are too in love with money. Many individuals go to great lengths whether it’s legally or illegally to obtain more money; McCandless, however, had a college degree from Emory and had to the opportunity to go to law school, yet he decided to live underneath a bridge. He donated $20,000 that was supposed to be used towards his law degree to Oxford Famine Relief Fund. He realized that there where other things in life rather than the number of zeroes on his salary. He could have been hired at numerous of prestigious places, but yet he was content with working for McDonald’s for a short stint. He found things that would make him happy that money could not buy.
Another reason why I stand behind my opinion is because people viewed McCandless as lunatic and his actions were controversial. Why is that? Because he did not conform to the world and follow society’s rule of how a person should live their life. He did not do the things that are expected; rather he thought and lived outside of the box. Society dictates how everyone should live their lives, and if someone does not follow those rules than there is obviously something wrong with them. Many of us would probably question why bury all his earthly possessions and burn his last $160 dollars. There is a saying that goes, “Money makes the world go round”, but McCandless thinks money makes life way too easy. So who is there to say he is wrong? Is it not possible for somebody to be happy with no money?
The world today has become too economic for anybody to have the same mindset about money as McCandless did. People these days value money and earthly possessions more than they value life itself. We spend many years in college to get better degrees so we can get higher paying jobs, and once we start working at the jobs we will probably be working for many years to come trying to get more and more money. On Chris last note he wrote he stated, "I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!", yet he died with no money in his pockets. There goes to show we don’t need to value money as much as we do to be happy in life. Besides you can’t take your money with you when you die.