Beech Tree News Network

I SEE IT DIFFERENTLY:  If you have given more than just a cursory glance at even a fraction of the things I have written in either this column, or anything else I may have penned over the years, then you know good and well that I tend to view the world a little differently than common. I have come to accept that about myself but if truth be known, that has not always been the case and to be completely honest, there is still a small part of me that struggles with the concept of seeing life differently than those around me, even to this day.

For someone whom has struggled their entire life with self esteem issues and a sense of isolation, even when around people, probably the thing you long for the most is acceptance, for who you really are, to fit in, to belong, and seeing the world differently, often complicates that process. As in Robert Frosts' poem “ I took the road less traveled by,” I made a similar choice. Here is the poem for those readers whom may not be familiar with it.

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.

The most accepted conclusion as to the meaning of the poem is that it is about having the courage to make unpopular choices, but I see it a bit differently; see!

If you examine it closely you will find that he sees not much difference in two roads that diverged in the woods, it is only after he has taken the journey, believing he could come back and go another route at some point, does he realize that would become impossible. It is about looking back on life and what might have been and realizing those choices are no longer available, once certain decisions have been made; that determines our legacy, not fickle fate.

Now, I don't mind being controversial, and it does not bother me one bit to have a minority opinion on a subject but I do not do it just to be contrary or obstinate. I find no pleasure in just being argumentative or in judging the wisdom of other peoples opinions. Fitting in would be much more desirable and easier but that would not be true to who I am, thus I would just be miserable if I went that route, at this stage it really has become impossible anyway.

There area few topics which I am passionate about which with my propensity to look at differently than most, influences my proposals for a solution, a great deal. With two children, education is something I take seriously. You may also know that I feel conservative education abandoned me, as a right-brain dominant child, so I feel strongly about not being force fed a bunch of facts and “knowledge,” in some sort of “race to the top” but instead firmly believe we should focus on inspiring curiosity instead. I believe that dominion of our planet means care-taking in the stead of another whom entrusted it to us and I believe health is a birthright and not a game for the wealthy to play with. These are all things I see a bit differently.

Seeing things differently can be a beneficial way to look at the world though. I don't have to force someone to see how wrong and misguided they are. I believe we all will be judged by how much compassion we have added to the world, not by how many people agree with us. To agree to see it differently, pretty awesome way to do life.