Do you ever wish that you could turn back time? Can you pick out particular incidents that you wish you could have a do over for? Recently I've wanted that very badly. I'd like to be able to go back and not take the path of least resistence, change my decisions or actions based on hindsight. I don't know if things would be different now if I had done things differently in the past, but it makes me wonder. However, I do think the past has helped me grow, especially over the last two years, and that may be a better outcome than would have happened had I done things differently.
As the ubiquitous "they" say, "Hindsight is 20-20," but is that true? It's more likely that hindsight yields an ideal, not clarity as to a decision. Hypotheses can be made as to the different paths that one would travel down but at that next fork in the road more decisions have to be made, decisions influenced by previous decisions and future perceived outcomes. So, where does this get us? Should one idealize the past and covet it's infinite options for replays in the mind? Conversely, should one just continue to move forward and remember the past as a guide from which to glean information for future decisions? Now that I think about it, the latter is probably the best scenario. One must keep growing, moving forward and and cannot get trapped in the past and its questions of "What if?" The new question should be, "What can be?"
As I was writing this, this poem came to mind.
ROAD LESS TRAVELED - 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 onto 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 took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference
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2 comments:
So I don't know the exact reason that motivated you to write this or anything, but I understand what you mean. Going forward is so hard for me sometimes because I do agonize over the "what ifs" of decisions and life. I can't believe you're graduating.. Or me too for that matter! Lots of changes await and we go forward now whether we like it or not!
I just came across your blog. I favorite DVD of mine, Grey Gardens, refers to Robert Frosts' ROAD LESS TRAVELED. The ladies in the DVD are real, the story is real, and they traveled down a road no others had traveled. I could tell you more, but you should see the DVD.
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