I have been watching 'Life below Zero' by National Geographic on Netflix for few days
now and cannot but admire the beauty of simple but hard life in perpetually frozen and
secluded part of Alaska around the Arctic Circle it has portrayed. Few men and women
who have dared to live this kind of completely isolated existence fighting cold, constant
danger - a wrong foot in the thin ice could be your last step, frozen rivers to commute,
hunt for your food and fish under the icy sheet of the frozen rivers - the reward
seems to be eternal - something material life can never give.
There is this woman who was living near the tip of Alaska in a small shelter she built
herself and constantly visited by Bears and foxes, broker her leg and had to come down
to 'civilization' to fix it. She can't wait to get back and find out if there has been intruder
at her home or someone or something has slept on her bed. She is completely frustrated
at the mechanical problem with the plane or weather that seems to delay her return back
home. She just can't wait, such is the passion for her place she calls home. And its a
real wilderness.
There is this guy who shunned the cubicle life to live alone near the Arctic circle and
hunts for meat, prepares it himself. The journey to the herd of animals, the gun he uses
- akin to a hammer to a carpenter or computer to an IT nerd, are all part of his daily
life, a smooth survival.
While there are hardly any wilderness left around the globe, people who choose and dare
live this isolated, cold and harsh life are truly rare and part of the vanishing wilderness itself.
The lessons you learn watching these people living in some of the harshest places on the planet
are applicable to anyone's life - to care for the environment, reduce waste, be efficient, watch out
for dangers and be active about it before it gets you.
