Maybe Just As Fair

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. Robert Frost - The Road Not Taken

In this classic piece, he describes the choice between the two roads and how that choice, looking back over a lifetime of additional choices has made all the difference. But what is not shared is what the decision would have brought had he chosen the other path. The truth is of course as relayed to us in the above poem, that we can only go one way before that choice begins to determine the way we see the world from then on.

What is not said is that the road less traveled is the better road. What would happen if he would have gone down the trail that others have taken? I am of course removing the metaphor here but the beauty of taking the well worn trail is the shared experience of that trail's journey. Once at the end he would meet others who have traveled that same trail, seen the same views, possibly tripped by that same rock on that one turn; you know the corner right after that huge oak tree with the branch that dips down overhead as though it is trying to reach down to you and grab you by the hand...

I love to be alone. I treasure the time I have to spend on a quiet run (although it is more walking lately) or the drive in the morning with the radio off listening to the quiet hum of the tire and the road or the soothing rhythm of my own footsteps. I love it but there is definitely something to be said about having a shared experience whether it be a good one the you regret later or one you tell your children about, whether it be with strangers or with loved ones, those shared sights and sounds are worth, every now and then, getting off the quiet trail and joining in the march together. When you do at least you know your fate will not be yours alone and that regardless of the destination, you will have picked up a few friends to remember "that one time when..."