“Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail”: https://tinyurl.com/4h3w5p4f

I was dying to tell you about this but ultimately I found the ending disappointing. Furthermore, the three main cases were scrambled in the pages so sometimes you couldn’t keep the players straight. However, I was struck by the dedication of the searchers, they had PURPOSE!

That’s more important than money. And although there are some people who find purpose in making money, it’s the vast minority. Which is why when you hear the aphorism that money won’t make you happy, believe it. Yes, there’s nothing worse than being broke. And up to a point extra money eases the pain of life. But we all need something to live for. Or we die.

Yes, the scions of famous people. They’ve got everything. But they’re constantly dying before their time. Like Christina Onassis. You think you want to be her, but in truth you want to be anyone but her. Ditto on the child stars. Everybody knows them until they don’t, until they become a joke. And it’s not radically different from child and early twentysomething musical acts. Then again, when done right, the music speaks of their life, it delivers insight for the listeners, but when the songs are written by committee and you’re just a vessel for someone else’s words, ultimately you become laughable yourself. Growing up is hard, which is why so many people refuse to do it. Or, you can take the easy way out, get a job and stick with it and not ask any questions until you retire, gratefully. But a lot of those people live for what happens outside the office, and for that I feel sorry for them. They’re playing it safe, and you only get to live once, and you don’t want to have any regrets.

And the worst thing about purpose is sometimes it runs out. You’re really into something, dedicated to it, and then it ceases being meaningful. This is the curse of the baby boomer in the music industry. They made it, they’ve got a job, but they keep on doing the same thing over and over. I mean at some point, who cares that some nincompoop is number one, who needs to know the new head of promotion, especially when music has never had less power in my lifetime. I’m not saying the music business is suffering, I’m just saying if you want to know which way the wind blows…the odds of a record being your weather vane are minimal. Or you could convince yourself the records have meaning, when in truth, as Bob Dylan said:

“For them that must obey authority

That they do not respect in any degree

Who despise their jobs, their destinies

Speak jealously of them that are free

Do what they do just to be

Nothing more than something they invest in”

Ain’t that the truth. But Bob Dylan doesn’t write this stuff anymore. He doesn’t spew words. Things have changed. And sometimes it’s been interesting and sometimes it hasn’t, but the key is Dylan is trying to make it interesting to himself. Otherwise, why live?

Writing about “A Murder at the End of the World” I spaced mentioning something very important, about the hacking.

Yes, there’s a group of hackers, and they’re working together to try and crack a serial murder case, when the police aren’t interested.

Now “hacker” has got a bad connotation. As the person who pierces the corporate veil and steals information. But in truth, if you’re computer-savvy, you can use these skills for good, like in “A Murder at the End of the World.”

It thrilled me, because these people had purpose. They weren’t worried about fame, or remuneration, they were driven by the cause. And when you’ve got that purpose it’s so great to be alive, you can’t wait to wake up in the morning, to get in front of the computer.

Now in the wake of Cheryl Strayed’s “Wild” the number of people hiking the Pacific Crest Trail has greatly increased. And even though we have so many modern communications methods, there is not cell service everywhere. Then again, if you’ve got an iPhone 14 or later, you’ve got the satellite SOS feature.

In other words, you’re out there alone.

And I’ve lived this life, of camping, hiking, being off the grid, so this book had a pull that was bittersweet. But what blew my mind, was all the volunteers looking for the missing.

Droves of people. Sans compensation. You could call on them and they’d show up. They’d offer to show up. They wanted to help. They wanted to find the people, alive or dead, for closure for their relatives. And they take time from their jobs, they put themselves in harm’s way, they do everything that is not reported in the slurry of news flowing through our devices 24/7. You might ask why they’re doing it, viewing them as chumps, but you’re probably the one who is a chump. All your toys, how happy are they making you? And showing up and being in the right place…

You get to drive. You steer. This is your life. And if you want to live a fulfilled existence, you’ve got to have a purpose, that you pursue to make you feel good on the inside.

And this is so challenging. So many people say they have no idea what to do with their life. They graduate from college and nothing appeals to them. Well, if you start, you’ll find it. That’s the way life is, you stumble into opportunities you never foresaw. But you must be in motion.

And you must know when to jump the tracks. I’m all for dedication, staying the course, but after a while…is it still ringing your bell?

Like I said above, the ending of “Trail of the Lost” is disappointing. For reasons I won’t go into here, not wanting to spoil the book. But it is easy to read and riveting for a long time. A change from formula, whether it be fiction or nonfiction. A change from those books written to sell.

So actually, I’d tell everybody to read half of “A Trail of the Lost,” yet that’s not the way people consume stuff. But still…

It made me think.