The Road Not Taken
(Sometimes cited as The Road Less Traveled)
By Robert Frost
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.
(Sometimes cited as The Road Less Traveled)
By Robert Frost
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.
As children, we often dream about what we would like to be when we grow up. Perhaps you wanted to be a baseball player, or a ballerina, or President of the United States. Chances are, you are none of these things today. The truth is, despite our childhood dreams, the circumstances and situations of our lives often get in the way, and those childhood career dreams often become just that... dreams.
*They say the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry...
The things we dream of, wish for, and even plan- no matter how carefully, sometimes may still go wrong.
Sometimes we start out on the path that we always dreamt of, only to find that it wasn't really the right road for us after all. So how is it that we wind up doing what we do? How do the teachers wind up teaching? How do the policemen wind up policing?
Sometimes we work hard and study and strive to be what we think will make us happy, what we think we will be good at. Sometimes, we fall into a profession- a family business perhaps. Sometimes we arrive at our profession out of necessity. We take a job that fits our life and our needs of the moment. And then, life rolls on. And before we know it, years have passed and this is what we do.
And sometimes we wind up in the strangest of places, with a job that we never thought we would have, doing things we never thought we would do. And while we all need the plumbers of the world, the teachers of the world, and the mechanics of the world, there is something fascinating, riveting, about people whose jobs are out of the ordinary, outside of the box.
This week we have the pleasure of bringing you into the lives of people who have or have had jobs that are just a little different than your supermarket cashiers or your gas station attendants. Please come back every day this week and meet people just like you, working at jobs that are a little unusual, uncommon, or off the beaten path. No matter how unusual, or how far removed from what we do their jobs are, at the end of the day we still all face the same questions, doubts, struggles and joys that come with a day's work.
Hardly have I met in my life someone who did not at one time or another question the road that they were on- the path that they had chosen. Sometimes a career is everything. It defines you. It is, essentially, who you are. And other times, a job is just a means to an end. Something we do to pay the bills and sustain us while we wait for that precious 5 o'clock hour when our "real life" begins.
So, which one are you? Are you happy that way? Remember, it's never to late to change the road you're on.... So while we wait for our first interview, tell us, what do you do for a living? What did you hope to be when you were a kid?
*They say the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry...
The things we dream of, wish for, and even plan- no matter how carefully, sometimes may still go wrong.
Sometimes we start out on the path that we always dreamt of, only to find that it wasn't really the right road for us after all. So how is it that we wind up doing what we do? How do the teachers wind up teaching? How do the policemen wind up policing?
Sometimes we work hard and study and strive to be what we think will make us happy, what we think we will be good at. Sometimes, we fall into a profession- a family business perhaps. Sometimes we arrive at our profession out of necessity. We take a job that fits our life and our needs of the moment. And then, life rolls on. And before we know it, years have passed and this is what we do.
And sometimes we wind up in the strangest of places, with a job that we never thought we would have, doing things we never thought we would do. And while we all need the plumbers of the world, the teachers of the world, and the mechanics of the world, there is something fascinating, riveting, about people whose jobs are out of the ordinary, outside of the box.
This week we have the pleasure of bringing you into the lives of people who have or have had jobs that are just a little different than your supermarket cashiers or your gas station attendants. Please come back every day this week and meet people just like you, working at jobs that are a little unusual, uncommon, or off the beaten path. No matter how unusual, or how far removed from what we do their jobs are, at the end of the day we still all face the same questions, doubts, struggles and joys that come with a day's work.
Hardly have I met in my life someone who did not at one time or another question the road that they were on- the path that they had chosen. Sometimes a career is everything. It defines you. It is, essentially, who you are. And other times, a job is just a means to an end. Something we do to pay the bills and sustain us while we wait for that precious 5 o'clock hour when our "real life" begins.
So, which one are you? Are you happy that way? Remember, it's never to late to change the road you're on.... So while we wait for our first interview, tell us, what do you do for a living? What did you hope to be when you were a kid?
*The best laid plans... is a line adapted from a Scottish poem written by Robert Burns in 1785. It was later further adapted and served as the inspiration for the title of John Steinbeck's 1937 novel, Of Mice and Men.
