“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost
Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken is a great expression of personal choice or free will to make our own life decisions. Whether we take the road that seems to be a well-worn path from those who have come before us; or we take the unknown path that is uniquely our own; we get to choose.
Many have analyzed this poem as being one which implies the traveler is fretting over the decision of which road to choose. They also imply that the traveler believes he will regret his choice since he says, “I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence…” I want to encourage you to consider the choice in front of you in the context of your life today, a few months from now, a few years from now, and when you are old and gray. Make the best decision you can with the information you have and then don’t look back!
Here’s the poem in its entirety from Wikipedia:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
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.
For this week’s soundtrack, I’m going with India Arie once again. “I Choose” is the perfect song to set the tone for making the best choices for your life. Enjoy!
Until next week,