To start this off, I wound up with The Dangerous Book for Boys which is a lovely compendium of knowledge targeting young boys (there is now a similar book for girls).The page I flipped to was in a section called “7 poems every boy should know”, and the poem I found on that page was Robert Frost’s famous The Road Not Taken.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Interestingly, as often as the last three lines of this poem are quoted, it is seldom in the intended context. Frost wrote this piece about a friend who was in the army, and was deciding between two roads in the field of battle, fully expecting whichever choice he made would be the wrong one and lead to his demise.
If you think about that, it really changes the entire meaning of those oft spoken words. Today’s connotative meaning is usually the exact opposite of Frost’s intent for the passage. When people use the phrase today, they are talking about how they are “being their own person”. In this case, the “misuse” is probably a good thing. Many an inspiring speech, has been punctuated by these words. Their simple (despite being out of context) message conveying a strong call to independent adventurous action.
But even with its original meaning, the words convey strength and courage. The young trooper could, of course, opted to shrink from the challenge, to cower from the unknown and make no progress at all. However this was not the course or content of our representatives character, nor shall it be ours.
I say embrace the adventure of the unknown, be frontiersmen, even within our your community, be dangerous (whether or not you are a boy!). Whether you take the road less traveled by, or not… strike out… and make your life your own adventure story!