reader response to Robert Frost's the road not taken.

reader response to Robert Frost's the road not taken.


I look at life as a bunch of choices, a crossroad of sorts. Every time I have a choice in front of me I tend to stop and in my mind I'm at a crossroads in the woods. I see each of my choices and what they lead to, or more like what I think they lead to. This acts as a moral and motivational compass for me. For example writing this essay it self was a chose, I could have chose to simply not do it, I thought about it, I hate writing. But in the end I placed myself at those oh so familiar crossroads, in one direction, I saw myself moussing on down the road that was slightly worn down by your average 18 year old student, just to jump in bed and fall asleep and worry about it in the morning. Then I saw the other path... its the greener path, more under brush for me to cut thought but its the one with a more rewarding path in the long run. So I grabbed my metaphorical machete (my laptop) and hacked my way to starting on this response.

This whole crossroads thing came from when I was about 10 or 11 not entirely sure, but I was hiking in the woods behind my house. This was rare for me since even then I didn't like nature that much ,still don't, but I had been kicked out of the house for playing to many video games. My mom was on her "you need sun and exercise" kick, she has one ever summer. So I grabbed my head set, and MP3 CD player and put on a Sifi book on CD and began my adventure. After a while of hiking I got to this point in the road. There where 2 different ways I could go, at this point the book in CD started to get on the subjects of alternate universes. I came to the conclusion that life is all about choices, so as I chose which path to walk down I decided to remember that moment forever and use it to make my choices a little more wise. I of course forgot about it for the next 4 years or so until I had to make the chose to come to NVCC.

So far in life this pick a road thing had done good I guess, but at the same time I always wonder what if ? What if I hadn't came to NVCC, what if I hadn't gone and talked to that nervous looking red head that now is my best friend. That what if has keep me up at night sometimes, mainly because I don't think I'll ever know. But isn't that the point of life to make the best choices you can ? And live with the ones you didn't make. But here's where the scary part comes in, you will never know that joy you missed out on. Sure you'll know the pain you could have missed if my make a really bad choice but what if I hadn't asked my girlfriend to prom, would i even know her now ? I could have missed out on this and I wouldn't have even known. to me that's scary part of life. And it saddens me to know that somewhere out in the cosmoses, there is a Chris who dosn't know or love Emma (my girlfriend), or know rob or Nicole(my two best Friends). But hey I guess I can only be happy with the smart choice's Ive made and try to make the best ones.

This poem makes me think Mr. Frost had the same type of thoughts late at night, as if he wondered how his life would have turned out if his father hadn't died. Would he be still be the great poet we now know, only from San Fransisco instead of New England. Or would he have gone on to do something else, some other trade. What if he had never dropped out of Harvard or Dartmouth. I think everyone at the end of their life thinks the great what if's, its part of the human experience. but at the same time I think we should be grateful for the concrete stuff we know, the people we love, the joy of getting up every morning and choosing something. Even if its a small thing like choosing to get a cup of amazing coffee, that we really enjoy. I know I will tomorrow, hope you do the same.