I knew that you couldn't make a living simply writing about the outdoors, so I made an effort from the beginning of my freelance career to write about other subjects.
Jon KrakauerRead
When Alex left for Alaska," Franz remembers, "I prayed. I asked God to keep his finger on the shoulder of that one; I told him that boy was special. But he let Alex die. So on December 26, when I learned what happened, I renounced the Lord. I withdrew my church membership and became an atheist. I decided I couldn't believe in a God who would let something that terrible happen to a boy like Alex.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the struggle with faith after experiencing profound loss.
In this quote from Jon Krakauer, the speaker expresses intense sorrow and betrayal after the death of a special boy named Alex. The speaker's initial prayer for protection reveals a deep belief in a caring deity, but the subsequent tragedy leads to a crisis of faith, resulting in a drastic renunciation of religious beliefs. This illustrates the complex relationship between personal loss and spirituality, as well as how such moments can profoundly alter one’s worldview.
Themes
FaithLossAtheismGriefSpirituality
In practice
Example use cases
In a talk about coping with loss, this quote can illustrate the challenges of maintaining faith.
More from Jon Krakauer
All quotes →Getting to the top of any given mountain was considered much less important than how one got there: prestige was earned by tackling the most unforgiving routes with minimal equipment, in the boldest style imaginable.
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He read a lot. He used a lot of big words. I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he did too much thinking. Sometimes he tried too hard to make sense of the world, to figure out why people were bad to each other so often. A couple of times I tried to tell him it was a mistake to get too deep into that kind of stuff, but Alex got stuck on things. He always had to know the absolute right answer before he could go on to the next thing.
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Having stumbled upon a tolerable career, for the first time in my life I was actually living above the poverty line. My hunger to climb had been blunted, in short, by a bunch of small satisfactions that added up to something like happiness.
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The way Everest is guided is very different from the way other mountains are guided, and it flies in the face of values I hold dear: self-reliance, taking responsibility for what you do, making your own decisions, trusting your judgment - the kind of judgment that comes only through paying your dues, through experience.
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Mountains make poor receptacles for dreams.
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