Over the past few months, I seem to be "running" into my favorite poem or snippets of it. It keeps appearing on my FB newsline or in a motavational news letter. It always gets me to thinking which is probably why I have favored it thruout my life. You know, from the title , of course, , that I am referring to Robert Frost's No Road Traveled....a most famous poem. I think I relate to and love this poem because I feel I tend to take the road less traveled and always have.....it has benefited me and ...cost me also.
The words group, majority, popular opinion, mid -range, fitting in, average, are words I have never been interested in being part of. I even have a favorite "label" that I use...."average bear"...and it is never meant as a compliment. I have admired people thru out my life who marched to their own drummer and by doing so became unique , successful and most important (to me)...interesting people.
I had a VP at the Company I worked for pay me the best...the very best compliment I have ever been paid at that time.....He was calling me to ask me to leave my current job and come work with him on a special task force....a task force he called the "skunk works"...an " in" word at the time....he was a Harvard guy ...it was for a brain storming future planning type group. Well, believe me, I had no skills or education for that type of thing..so, I asked him....why me?...why do you want me with my limited skills in that area...he said...."You are left of center and I trust you implicitly to tell me the truth about projects and issues even if it hurts your position. "...It was the left of center part that caused me to leave my job and it was the right thing to do at the time. Just to add to the story....this man backed me when I told him something needed to be done....100%..he also was "left of center" and I respected him and held him in high regard.
I have always admired people who stood out by their achievements ...when i was a young beginning person...my role model was Joy Adamason.....Author of Living Free, Born Free and Forever Free. I admired her so much , I wrote her a letter a while before my 24th Birthday telling her that she inspired me to follow my dreams and I received an answer on my birthday...from Africa and although typed..it had a personal note....thrilled?...oh , yes, I was thrilled. Years later when I took a safari to Africa, I met people who knew her. She has been a role model thru out my life as she followed her dreams and had a very strong will and mind and did so much good for the Lions there... .... She always followed the road less traveled in her life......
I put a scan of her letter to me after the Quote section. It is very difficult to read but, it still creates an emotional feeling within when I read it...especially her handwritten note to me.....
Another person that has given me inspiration to make it on my own was Susan Butcher....4 time winner of the Iditarod Race in Alaska......She died early in her life and when I discovered that she died a few years back....I emailed her family to tell them the impact Susan made on this woman's life. Susan...on her own....went to Alaska to be a musher....she walked over a half mile several times a day to bring water to her dogs in her kennel that she set up herself...on her own. She worked at a Salmon factory to support her dreams in addition to doing all that work in such a remote and harsh environment. She was on her own for several years before she married. Unfortunately her life was cut short but , I am sure she made an impact on many peoples lives...not only mine.
Both of these people and many many others traveled down their own road ....a road that was certainly not well-traveled.
I know it is obvious I have chosen women as role models thru out my life....while, that is not entirely true, however, I had to make it in a world that, at the time, did not offer women ...and others...the same opportunities that men had. Understanding and seeing that other women had made it and were following their dreams which were most challenging....helped me keep going towards my goals and dreams....and achieving them. It is a different world today for people. Back then , a female person had to be 3 times as good as the male persons in her world to obtain advancement and acceptance. I could write musings day and night with unbelievable , but true, incidents that occurred . It certainly was a challenging road to travel at the time for me, but, an exciting and successful one. The side roads in life , for myself, offer the most adventures, excitement, and challenges and that has always been the attraction
for me ......and still is.
This is the poem that has meant so much to me in my life .....it is my intent and hope to compose music and read it with this music and put it on my Musical Musings page :-)....but, I have never attempted anything like that before ..so, can't say it will happen for sure :-)....just , another road less traveled to walk down......
The Road Not Taken by 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 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.
Perhaps, you , my musing reader or listener, have taken a road or two that was not too well traveled or you might be on one now....like I am. I am wishing you much excitement and reward along its way. For those of you who like a well traveled road, perhaps, one day this Frost poem will pop into mind and that side road that no one has traveled will call out to you and....you will take it :-)
QUOTES:
Prudence keeps life safe, but does not often make it happy. ~Samuel Johnson
Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. ~Robert F. Kennedy
Adventure may hurt but monotony will kill you. ~Author Unknown
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic. ~Author Unknown
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. ~Pablo Picasso
A ship in harbor is safe - but that is not what ships are for. ~John A. Shedd
The words group, majority, popular opinion, mid -range, fitting in, average, are words I have never been interested in being part of. I even have a favorite "label" that I use...."average bear"...and it is never meant as a compliment. I have admired people thru out my life who marched to their own drummer and by doing so became unique , successful and most important (to me)...interesting people.
I had a VP at the Company I worked for pay me the best...the very best compliment I have ever been paid at that time.....He was calling me to ask me to leave my current job and come work with him on a special task force....a task force he called the "skunk works"...an " in" word at the time....he was a Harvard guy ...it was for a brain storming future planning type group. Well, believe me, I had no skills or education for that type of thing..so, I asked him....why me?...why do you want me with my limited skills in that area...he said...."You are left of center and I trust you implicitly to tell me the truth about projects and issues even if it hurts your position. "...It was the left of center part that caused me to leave my job and it was the right thing to do at the time. Just to add to the story....this man backed me when I told him something needed to be done....100%..he also was "left of center" and I respected him and held him in high regard.
I have always admired people who stood out by their achievements ...when i was a young beginning person...my role model was Joy Adamason.....Author of Living Free, Born Free and Forever Free. I admired her so much , I wrote her a letter a while before my 24th Birthday telling her that she inspired me to follow my dreams and I received an answer on my birthday...from Africa and although typed..it had a personal note....thrilled?...oh , yes, I was thrilled. Years later when I took a safari to Africa, I met people who knew her. She has been a role model thru out my life as she followed her dreams and had a very strong will and mind and did so much good for the Lions there... .... She always followed the road less traveled in her life......
I put a scan of her letter to me after the Quote section. It is very difficult to read but, it still creates an emotional feeling within when I read it...especially her handwritten note to me.....
Another person that has given me inspiration to make it on my own was Susan Butcher....4 time winner of the Iditarod Race in Alaska......She died early in her life and when I discovered that she died a few years back....I emailed her family to tell them the impact Susan made on this woman's life. Susan...on her own....went to Alaska to be a musher....she walked over a half mile several times a day to bring water to her dogs in her kennel that she set up herself...on her own. She worked at a Salmon factory to support her dreams in addition to doing all that work in such a remote and harsh environment. She was on her own for several years before she married. Unfortunately her life was cut short but , I am sure she made an impact on many peoples lives...not only mine.
Both of these people and many many others traveled down their own road ....a road that was certainly not well-traveled.
I know it is obvious I have chosen women as role models thru out my life....while, that is not entirely true, however, I had to make it in a world that, at the time, did not offer women ...and others...the same opportunities that men had. Understanding and seeing that other women had made it and were following their dreams which were most challenging....helped me keep going towards my goals and dreams....and achieving them. It is a different world today for people. Back then , a female person had to be 3 times as good as the male persons in her world to obtain advancement and acceptance. I could write musings day and night with unbelievable , but true, incidents that occurred . It certainly was a challenging road to travel at the time for me, but, an exciting and successful one. The side roads in life , for myself, offer the most adventures, excitement, and challenges and that has always been the attraction
for me ......and still is.
This is the poem that has meant so much to me in my life .....it is my intent and hope to compose music and read it with this music and put it on my Musical Musings page :-)....but, I have never attempted anything like that before ..so, can't say it will happen for sure :-)....just , another road less traveled to walk down......
The Road Not Taken by 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 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.
Perhaps, you , my musing reader or listener, have taken a road or two that was not too well traveled or you might be on one now....like I am. I am wishing you much excitement and reward along its way. For those of you who like a well traveled road, perhaps, one day this Frost poem will pop into mind and that side road that no one has traveled will call out to you and....you will take it :-)
QUOTES:
Prudence keeps life safe, but does not often make it happy. ~Samuel Johnson
Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. ~Robert F. Kennedy
Adventure may hurt but monotony will kill you. ~Author Unknown
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic. ~Author Unknown
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. ~Pablo Picasso
A ship in harbor is safe - but that is not what ships are for. ~John A. Shedd
Joy Adamson's letter to me on my 24th Birthday.....
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