Stones In The Road

Life isn’t easy. That’s why it’s so rich.

I’m not sure what sort of poetry gets covered in schools these days, if any. But most people of my vintage are familiar with Robert Frost’s iconic The Road Not Taken, with its unforgettable opening line,

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

and the wisdom of the final bit:

I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference.

Most of us understand the poem to be an inspirational ode to rugged self-determination. Whether that’s accurate is up for debate; but our lives are certainly crammed with forks in the road.

Every fork demands a choice — each choice an indelible brushstroke on the canvas of our lives, each a fresh line etched into the unique map of our existence. We’re all pioneers, really, living lives that have never been lived before.

One of the biggest forks — sign-posted with the giant question: “What should I do with my life?” — arrives as we wobble fresh-eyed and naïve from adolescence into adulthood. The options sprawl in all directions — there’s rather more than “two roads in a yellow wood” from…