The Road Less Traveled

I’ve been contemplating the juxtaposition of Roberts Frost,
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in the wood And I-
I took the one less traveled By
And that had made all the difference.

And Dante Alighieri,
Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a dark forest,
for the straightforward pathway had been lost.

The road less traveled,
I found myself broken and bruised in a dark forest, cold and hungry. I thought I found the traveled path, the straightforward way. But I had been gone too long; I was looked at and balked at, a wild thing of the forest.
I am reflecting on the path less travled. 

I did not have the resources to take the road less traveled with skill. No map, no campus, and no shelter from the upcoming night. So I scavenged for food focused on survival.
When coming across the well-marked, trodden road after many years of wandering the woods. 
I did not have the resources to walk tall on the well-worn road, assisted by the trail crews of society’s expectations.

The sunrises were amazing, the sunsets even more so; I found streams and shelters, others that were friends until survival made them competition.

I saw some seemingly well versed in the ways of the road less traveled;  they had skills, knowledge, and support from those on the well warn roads, a lifeline back into that world. That gave them confidence; what they were doing was entirely accepted, and they might return to the world when they saw fit—the “Fat maps” to life.

I shall be telling this with a sigh; it takes a lot of skill to succeed on the road less traveled. It takes support, confidence, knowledge, and discipline. 

Without these, you will become frail, bitter, hungry, cold, angry, and resentful. The sunrise is another day fighting for your place, and the sunset is a new way to survive the night. Trying to navigate when the path becomes no path, just lost in a dark wood. There are predators there. 

I am licking my wounds, watching and learning from those on the smooth paths. I am strong, I know how to survive, though that part of my personality scares people. 

I’ve watched what survival can turn men’s and women’s hearts into. 
I’ve seen it happen to mine. Jealous, vengeful, hurtful things, I’ve watched these to. But, hopefully, at a distance these days. 

People trying to survive don’t always have the luxury of being kind
though often, being kind is your only option in the struggles to survive.