The Road Not Taken

I well remember reading this very popular Robert Frost poem while in high school.  Our class together analysed it and by the end concluded that it was a poem about choices and individualism.  At some point in life, we will be faced to choose between two similar yet different paths, and this choice will profoundly affect our future.  If only we could see that future, the choice would be a simple one, but as the poem (and life) goes, we can only see a short distance ahead, any attempt at the "long term" view is not possible...the "road will bend" and block it off.

The narrator of this poem took the road "less" travelled.  Does that mean less popular because it was tougher?  Perhaps to this traveller, the tougher road presents the challenge in life he was seeking "at that time" and that's why he chose it.  He had the courage to take what "he perceived" to be the more difficult journey.  

Where my class could not completely agree on was the ending, perhaps open to interpretation.  As stated, he took the road less travelled by and that has "made all the difference".  Many people in my class believed that he was happy with his choice.  Some others including myself, questioned his "sigh" at the end, was it a sigh of relief, or a sigh to express grief or lament?

In life, we never really know which choices would have given us a better outcome in the long term.  Looking back on my own difficult choices from long ago, there have been times when I pondered the wisdom of my quitting on an important career move after only three days.  When our household is short of money, that's usually when my "sigh" would be that of lament!  However, knowing that just one month later I became pregnant with my little girl, days like today, when this morning I proudly watched her running her heart out at her track and field school event...my "sigh" is one of definite happiness. 

When you think about it really, we can only try our best to make the right choices for ourselves and our family, and there is no proof that ultimately one is better than the other.  Proof does not exist because we only see one side of the decision.  For that reason, I feel we should never live life regretting our decisions.  While I agree that we can never go back and re-do the exact same ones, it is always possible at any time to conclude that the "current path" is, for whatever reason, simply not working the way we hoped, dreamed or envisioned.  At that point, we can create a new path, let's call this one "plan B" and know that again, there is no proof that plan A is any better than plan B.  

Remember the show "Who's the Boss?", (tv nostalgia time!), Tony's wife passed away, then he had to end his baseball career due to an injury, but he and his young daughter found joy in a very unexpected place:

 

lyrics..There's more to life than what you're living, so take a chance and face the wind.  An open road and a road that's hidden, a brand new life around the bend.  There were times, I lost a dream or two, found a trail and at the end was you!  There's a path you take and a path not taken, the choice is up to you my friend.  The nights are long, but you might awake to a brand new life, a brand new life, a brand new life around the bend.

I love that song!  It's so inspiring.  You never know what's around the bend, and it's never too late to find out!  And know that the life around the bend can be equally fulfilling to the one you lost, let go of or decided to change.

Cheers!
Linda