Two roads diverged . . .

The poet Thoreau once wrote a poem that started "Two roads diverged . . . "  See: http://roadsdivergedwood.blogspot.com/2009/08/blog-post_15.html.

 

It ends with the words ". . . I took the one less traveled by."

 

I've never really read the poem before, but I have lived it in spirit.  I've chosen to do things other people avoid or do not do, like study the genus Carex or learn Chinese.  This has resulted in a good life for me.

 

I've blogged here before on some choices I've made in life.  I've come to decisions, major decisions, and taken a road that leads one way and prevents me from going a different direction.  Even with Gail, Glenda, and Sheila, I've taken roads that took me in directions that I could not change later. 

 

But everyone does that.  Everyone has to make choices in life.  Where should I go to college?  Should I go to college?  What should I work at?  What should I do with my life?  Who should I marry?  Will I fall in love?  We all face these questions.

 

I've not been surprised that young people in China ask themselves the same questions.  They ask me for my advice. 

 

I would tell them "you see what you want to see, and you hear what you want to hear."  That line comes from an old cartoon movie, narrated by Ringo Starr, the drummer for the Beatles.  See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Point!  What is my point?  Life is what you make it.  If you take no risks, you won't experience all of life.  To see more on this seeing and hearing, visit http://legacy.bluegrass.kctcs.edu/LCC/ENG/101nil.html and look for the song titled "The Pointed Man."