I had a chance this morning to reread “The Road Not Taken” by Robert
Frost (1). A small poem full of promise and words to make us wonder: Which
roads did I not take, and where might they have gone?
Well, the answer that came to mind was this: too many to count
and no point wondering. Every single choice for the last 60 or so years ago,
maybe a few more, had alternatives. Thousands of choices. I have no idea which
ones I didn’t take. I do know this: some that I took were bad choices. And where
might the ones not taken gone? Who knows. And if I am truthful about it, who
cares either?
We are all the sum total of the roads we took. Change one and
everything shifts. For better or worse there are none not taken I would want to
travel if I could, for fear of where I might be now. Consider the last stanza:
“I
shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere
ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
I really don’t know if I took any that were less traveled by, but I do know that the ones I took made all the difference.
1. The Poem read by the author: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie2Mspukx14
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