"The Road Not Taken" Written by Robert Frost (#3)

"The Road Not Taken"

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.

"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is one of the most famous and inspirational poems ever written. There are two ways that a person can interpret this poem. 

The first is that the speaker, faced with the decision to choose between road X and road Y, chose the one less traveled by. (hahaha i'm a poet and I didn't even know it). The message in this "hallmark" version is that although it may be more difficult, forge your own path in life instead of following in someone else's footsteps. 

The second interpretation is rather blunt. However, it can be good advice for those who are indecisive or dwell on the past. The speaker explains that the paths looked similar and would ultimately lead to the same place. However he makes the decision to take the second path. This symbolizes that we do have a destiny but we decide the road we take to get there. Towards the end the speaker explains that he can go back another day and take the other path but that he probably won't. The moral is that once you make a decision, you must live with the consequences and events caused by your choice. 

Both of these expositions can be compared to Malcolm X's life. He made it his priority to take the road less traveled after his arrest in 1946. Instead of rolling over and living life in the prison system like an average inmate, he began frequently visiting the prison library and reading as much as he possibly could. He educated himself to become one of the most influential people of our time. Malcolm didn't care about the situation he was in. There wasn't a way to turn back time or retreat into the past. There was only the future. The path malcolm chose was a narrow, rocky one. Headstrong, Malcolm found where the yellow wood opened out into a bright green valley. There the light from the sun illuminated his destiny. He stuck to his path not without regrets but without second guessing his decisions or stopping himself from becoming great.

In my own life I often come to a fork in the road; a time where I have to make a decision and a time where I struggle to choose a path. My most recent experience in this realm was when I was confronted about whether or not to continue playing football. To me, it wasn't just a sport. Football was a part of who I was. My teammates had become my friends and my coaches had become my mentors. Throughout 7 years of playing I was taught discipline, perseverance, and sportsmanship. However, I had to face the truth. Physically I knew I couldn't change who I was. 

For five consecutive years I was one of the biggest kids on the team. I was gutsy, ruthless, and tough. But I gradually noticed a change. At the end of my fifth year, I realized I wasn't as good as I had been in the past. Though the answer was staring me in the face, I refused to believe that a persons skill could be determined by size. However, standing at 5.3 at the end of the freshmen football season, I knew I could no longer compete with the other players who at 6.2 deserved the position far more than I did. I was getting pummeled by the competition from other schools. The kids I would line up against would smirk when they saw who they were lucky enough to be paired with. So although it may not have seemed like a tough decision for someone looking in on the situation, quitting football was one of the toughest choices I have ever made. 

I am the nostalgic old man scanning through pictures of his younger years, for every time I watch a game of football and see the pride in the eyes of each player I feel an emptiness that I cannot fill. 

Although I miss putting on my gear and playing the greatest game in the world, I know I made the right decision. I love the game of football, but the amount of time I would have had to put in to match up against the competition wasn't worth wasting especially if I had to put my academic career in the back seat.

Sometimes I don't know where my decisions will lead me, or how tough the road I choose will be. But after I make my choice I realize that I can't dwell on whether it was the right one, but instead how I can avoid it in the future if it was the wrong one. In my case, I understand that the choice I made was in my best interest, and although it caused me pain to take the right path, in the end I know it was worth it. 

"When you come to a fork in the road....Take it"  - Yogi Berra