The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

                       Most of you who read this post might have come across this poem by the famous American poet Robert Frost, either in your literary studies or even in your day to day life.  For those who don’t know the poem, this is an example for Frost’s use of deceptively simple life incidents to talk about not so innocent realities of life.

Enough of poetry studies for now!

By the way, aren’t we always faced with the not-so-easy task of making decisions in our day to day existence? From the simple fact of selecting a topic to write about in this blog to the things we consider as crucial like selecting the most suitable professional career, the weight of choice becomes something that is unshakable.  Don’t go so far.  Think how difficult it is sometimes to select one out of hundreds of food items when you step into a McDonald's or a KFC.  On the top of all is the nagging sense of regret that, you could have tried a Tower Burger instead of a Big Boss in your last visit to a KFC!

                       Let me go back to our A/Ls to talk about the power of choices.  When I was half way into my A/Ls, I regretted selecting English as a subject because of the extra effort I had to put on for that subject.  I realised that, I could have done my A/Ls with one third of the effort I was putting and be successful if I didn’t have selected English.  I am sure at least few of you sometimes have experienced a similar kind of frustration with whatever the subject you have selected for A/Ls.  However, I honestly believe that, it is that single decision which finally rewarded me with a wonderful under-graduate life at Kelaniya uni.  I am sure the number of times I sang with batch mates while arranging or volunteering for certain events in the university pay off all the hard labours of those years.

                       I do not intend to be over optimistic by saying that, all the life choices yield memories that we can cherish.  I also have a catalogue of unpleasant memories resulted by my decisions and choices.  But dear friends,, what really counts is the experience each choice brings to our life.

                       The vibrancy of life is its experiences.  Each new day can be a way to a new experience.  The ground rule here is that, we should not regret the choices we have made in our life.  Whatever the outcome of that choice, it surely rewards you some experience that finally constitute the person whom you are.

                       If you ask me my dear friends, there are thousand different ways that we can live our life.  If you take a minute now and list out the things you wish you could have done differently, it would give you tangible proof to what I am talking about.  However, we should remember that, those choices can be the very things that constituted our identity as an individual.  At the end  of the day, what really matters is the experiences we gained from our choices.  It is true that we have to choose wise but we also have to never regret our choices in life.  So unlike Robert Frost, never say sorry when you are forced to choose one out of two roads.  Be proud for having a choice in your life!