I was seventeen, almost a senior in high school. I was riding my bike to school. I had taken a special route to pick up a gift, but that day, "the road less traveled by" led to disaster. Crossing a road, a drunk driver ran a red light, slammed into me, and shattered my left knee.
It made all the difference.
I was forced to postpone college, plunged into painful therapy . . . but eventually, I also learned much about life and myself. I found the strength to withstand adversity, learned compassion, and above all, I learned that the road not taken is not just about regrets or choices but also about the perpetual now and the always-coming future.
When I first studied Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” in middle school, I was unable to grasp its ambiguity. I always thought that Frost’s persona chooses “a road less traveled by” and lives life being subversive and irreverent. I was wrong. In the poem, both of the two roads that “diverged in a yellow wood” are actually “about the same.” But there has to be a choice, and sometimes, they it can be involuntary (as I learned the hard way). This makes me extremely thankful and resolute when I can make conscious choices and plan for the future, and so I know now that Frost's poem is also about "the road not [yet] taken."
For everyone, this means something slightly different. For me, it means constant vigilance, learning, and love. Our journey is hard, complex, and it often presents unexpected twists, but reflecting on the roads not taken and not yet taken each day gives us a little more strength and confidence. Life cannot and will not me perfect, and the truth is it will end. But as Willa Cather would say, “The end is nothing, the road is all.” The road not taken in the past, and the road not yet taken that lies ahead.
But about the present? It joints the past and the future. What then, is “the road not taken” in the perpetual now? Personally, I find an answer in these lines from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses”:
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Thank you.
i don’t know what that dream is that you have, i don’t care how disappointing it might have been as you’ve been working toward that dream, but that dream that you’re holding in your mind, that it’s possible!
some of you already know, that it’s hard, it’s not easy, it’s hard changing your life. that in the process of working on your dreams you are going to incur a lot of disappointment, a lot of failure, a lot of pain. there are moments that you are going to doubt yourself. you said, god why is this happening to me? i’m just trying to take care of my family, trying to give them a good life, i’m not trying to steal or rob from anybody. why does this have to happen to me. for those of you that have experienced some hardships – don’t give up on your dream.
the rough times are gonna come, but they have not come to stay, they have come to pass. greatness, is not this wonderful, esoteric, illusive, god like feature that only the special among can achieve. it’s something that truly exists, in all of us. it’s very important for you to believe that you are the one!
most people they raise a family, they earn a living and then they die. they stop growing, they stop working on themselves, they stop stretching, the stop pushing themselves. then a lot of people like to complain but they don’t wanna do anything about their situation. and most people don’t work on their dreams – why?
1. is because of fear, fear of failure “what if things don’t work out“?
2. is fair of success “what if they do and i can’t handle it?”
these are not risk takers
two dogs
a man has two dogs: a hound and a housedog。 he trains the hound to help him hurt and teaches the housedog to watch the house。 when he returns home after a day’s hunt， he always gives the house-dog some meat。 the hound feels very angry。 he says unhappily to the housedog， “where i work very hard outside， you share my food。” “don’t blame me， my friend。 you should blame the master。 he doesn’t teach me to hurt， but to share other’s food，” the housedog answers。 don’t blame children for the mistakes of their parent
两只狗
有一个人养了两条狗：一条是猎犬，一条是看�夜贰K训练猎狗帮他打猎，教看家狗守家5绷匀舜蛄艘惶炝�回家后，总要分给看家狗一些肉，猎狗对此很生气。它不高兴地对看家狗说道：“我在外边追捕猎物十分辛苦，而你在家什么都不做，但你却分享我的食物。”看家狗回答道：“不要责怪我，我的朋友。你就应去责备主人。他不教我打猎，却只教我分享别人的食物。” 不要因为父母的错误而去责备孩子。