The path less taken: A personal rant

Light breeze, cars driving here and there, a couple or two passing by, but mostly quiet, solitude, nature- Night time is like that and I love it. All day people seem to be in a rush. But, rushing to where? To get to their jobs? “Get on” with their lives? Or just keeping moving…and moving.  For what? Why do we do what we do?  Is it because this is the way it is meant to be, or is it the way we choose for it to be? Who runs whose life? Do we have control over our lives or is it controlled by others?  When you stop to think about it, I mean really think about it, is it you or is it society that makes you who you are today?

… And who do you really want to be? What choices do you really make? …and are your choices yours, or are they “theirs”? Why when one person does something out of the ordinary is he looked at in a strange way? Is he weird, strange or are you, for doing the same thing as everyone else, and the billions before you? What is life? Who decided one way to live or the other? What is the way? Your way?  My way? And is that the only way?

I stand here at a crossroad, in the middle of nowhere and everywhere. Before me there are 2 signs, one is a sign that says ‘society’ and under it is a paved, neat road with a clearly delineated sidewalk; the other sign ‘originality’ and under it a broken piece of wood saying “‘Tuff’ road ahead; Beware!” Weeds cover the entrance to that road (if you can call it that) and you can see that not many have passed there. No one I know took it before me, but there’s a voice inside me whispering, ‘go ahead…give it a try”. So I proceed to that crossroad, make my first step on my chosen “originality” path, and a jeep drives by at that exact second in high speed. A jeep filled with society, religious beliefs, labeling, conventional schooling (with studying, papers, classes, exams, projects), and time- which I don’t seem to have- and they all jeer and snicker and block my way….while the sign moves away from me,  farther and farther, till it’s too late, I can’t see it anymore.  I have hitched a ride in the end with “the Jeep”, before I even realized it. Once in a while I look back, to that day at the crossroad and say to myself ‘if only’ but at this point, it is too late. (Is it?)

Life can be tough on a person. We are behooved to drive through it, with all its bumps and rolls, many times created not by internal turmoil but by the people we choose to befriend, or the places we choose to live, or the choices we make (that are not always the ones we wanted to make), by the path we take. An Irish playwright named Oscar Wilde said “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation”. As you internalize Wilde’s comment, I want you to remember this: Never be afraid to take that path that people have not taken or rather, avoided, before you. You can be sure that successful people in the world didn’t take the easy route. Yes- it will be hard, yes- you will be looked at, you will be different and possibly considered weird or strange. You will have times when you will fail- swear at everyone you know and not see a purpose or reason to continue your trek.  But, if you chose this very tempting but “tuff” path, it will have been your choice and not theirs! Only on this path (your path), or journey will you feel whole, during the process you will also learn a lot about your destination. When you get there (to your goal), When you see the final product (whatever it maybe), it will have been worth every second of the hard work you have put in to it, no matter the outcome! You can then look at yourself, and say, “I have gotten here and I feel right with the world”.

Sometimes it’s the path that teaches you a lot about your destination.