Of Choosing To Be Divergent

“I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”

These are the last two lines of the renowned Robert Frost’s masterpiece “The Road Not Taken”. This might be a 98 year-old poem, but this will always and forever be my all-time favorite.

As I was scrolling my Facebook news feed last night, I stumbled upon a photo with these last lines in it. It goes with an image silhouette of a man walking a different road that of a crowd is traveling.

In your current situation, are you willing to detour and take the road less traveled by?

People, humans as we are, have fears that we cannot overcome alone. So most of us take the road where other people do. It’s playing safe. We are afraid of stepping into the dark because we don’t know what’s inside there.

Some of us choose to stay with the crowd to have the burden be lessened. It is innate in people to look for someone else to blame when they fail, and having a crowd walk together with you, is a lot of people to be blamed. Somehow the burden becomes lighter because it is shared by a lot of people, but the question is: Are you happy? Are you contented? Are you at peace?

Of course, the answer is still probably no. There are still these thoughts of “what ifs”. “What if I choose to be on the other way?”Then you would be taking the entire price by yourself. That is, if you’re brave enough to even take a step opposite.

Let’s take as an example a simple checking of examination papers in a class. The type of test is “True or False” and on question number one, most of your classmates are yelling the answer “True”. Some even support their answers with some explanations which convinced you that it must be really be “True”. But then, as you read the question again, you have this gut feeling it’s not.

You might not be sure if it’s really false, but your mind yells it is. Even so, you’re afraid to shout your answer to the class because everyone is against you. Will you have the courage to bawl your own answer? Or will you choose to go along with the crowd and take the path they are walking, too?

Let’s say you played along and answered “True” as well.If the correct answer is really “True”, then you won’t be having anymore thoughts and stay with the “stick to the crowd” principle. But then, the answer was“False”. What do you think are your thoughts after?

“Just as I thought! I should’ve chosen to shout my own answer! I should’ve believed in myself!”

Yes, you’ll end up with regrets, and though you have a bunch of people along with you who got the answer wrong at the same time, you can’t be able to blame them and then end up blaming yourself. And because that’s what it supposed to be! It’s no other people’s fault, because the last decision was yours the whole time.

Say you had the courage to go against everyone and yelled “False” to the class. There are possible negative outcomes to this;people might have criticisms on you, mocking you for being brave of turning against them, telling you you’re much of a proud and arrogant person to be different. But none of these really matters. None of these changes the correct answer now.

And then the correct answer was “False”. Imagine the faces of them big headed classmates of yours who are scornful on you. You showed them and to yourself not only that you are brave, but also that you are independent. Then you’ll have this feeling of contentment. “That answer was mine. And it was right.”

Let’s say the correct answer was true though. The crowd was right, but you chose to be different. They laughed at you because your daring attitude doesn’t lead you to anything. Which feeling is heavier? Having wrong with your own answer, or being wrong because of other people’s fault,though in the end, it still is your fault?

The choice is yours now. To the optimistic, it would be simple to say, “At the very least, I tried. It was my answer and I learned I was wrong. I learned from my own mistakes.” As for the cynical, they will crawl up to their beds and lock their selves with it to the end of the world.

The correct answer might be important, but in the situation where you have to decide for yourself, it is more important to weigh things more properly and to not be deafened by other people’s choices.

The different routes were already given. It’s now up to you to choose. As you read this article, make a choice before you ask other people’s opinion as well. Weigh things properly before ending up with your own choice. Test yourself, which road are you taking?

To be divergent is to be brave, independent, different and strong. Are you brave enough to face the world whichever will the results be? Are you willing to step and take the road less traveled by? Because I did,and it made all the difference.