“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
Frost’s poem is arguably the most widely-recognized poem by a US poet; maybe even any poet, period. These last three lines are probably the most often quoted, usually as an encouragement to be adventurous, to not take the obvious path in life. Presumably by selecting the path “less traveled by,” your experience would be better; it would have “made all the difference.”
In 1984, I was considering two job offers. One of them was from my friend Jeff Bland. I was going to work part time for his new company HealthComm, doing workshops on weight management around the country and helping promote the UltraBalance Weight Loss Program to doctors. While that would have been fun and challenging, the real attraction was the possibility of going to college at Stanford. Jeff also had a close relationship with Linus Pauling, who was a Professor Emeritus at Stanford and, at 93, was running The Linus Pauling Institute with Jeff as his Director of Nutritional Supplement Analysis. I was giving serious thought to going to college. I had recently taken the SATs (at 33 years of age, I was older than the proctors in the room), and was looking at Indiana University and several other places as possibilities to get myself formally edumacated. Jeff was going to help get me an interview at Stanford. I clearly remember that two fears came up almost simultaneously: that I would not get accepted at Stanford, and that I would.
The other job offer was the one I took: to come to Southern California and work for Jeff Katke and Metagenics.
I often think about how different my life would have been had I taken the offer from Jeff Bland. I think I would have been accepted at Stanford and would have finished my undergrad, and then almost certainly I would have gone into a postgrad program and probably a PhD, or maybe med school. Today I could be a tenured professor looking at retirement, or I could be in practice someplace. It’s also conceivable that I would have eventually gone back into the business world, and even be doing something similar to what I’m doing now, but it would have been a very different journey. While that scenario is a strong possibility based on my interests at the time, of course many other scenarios are equally likely.
I had dinner with Jeff Bland a while back, and brought this topic up. I wasn’t looking for validation that I chose the right road; we just talked about how things turn out. When I took the job at Metagenics I didn’t think of it as passing up on a college degree; in fact when I got to California I eventually enrolled in a local community college to take some evening courses just to see how it felt (it felt great!). Even now, nothing is preventing me from going back to school if I so choose.
But if I had taken the academic route, I would not have met Cathy. I would not be living in Seal Beach nor have been happily married for more than 25 years. My circle of friends would be totally different. I have stayed friends with Jeff Bland; when we spoke about this we agreed that might not have been the case if I had gone to work for him; perspectives change. Our relationship certainly would have been different. In fact, my whole life would have been different. And probably neither better nor worse; just different.
Interestingly, most people misunderstand the point of Frost’s wonderful poem. A more careful reading shows that Frost was not saying one path was better because it was less traveled; in fact, there was no detectable difference between the two paths. A few lines before the “less traveled” phrase, Frost writes:
“Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no steps had trodden black.”
Each path was essentially the same. He’s not saying he was more virtuous or adventurous in his selection; he simply decided on one of two equally-untrod paths. I selected the path I did, and that has made all the difference.
About BigBill
Stats: Married male boomer.
Hobbies: Hiking, woodworking, reading, philosophy, good conversation.
The road not taken. (Robert Frost)
Frost’s poem is arguably the most widely-recognized poem by a US poet; maybe even any poet, period. These last three lines are probably the most often quoted, usually as an encouragement to be adventurous, to not take the obvious path in life. Presumably by selecting the path “less traveled by,” your experience would be better; it would have “made all the difference.”
In 1984, I was considering two job offers. One of them was from my friend Jeff Bland. I was going to work part time for his new company HealthComm, doing workshops on weight management around the country and helping promote the UltraBalance Weight Loss Program to doctors. While that would have been fun and challenging, the real attraction was the possibility of going to college at Stanford. Jeff also had a close relationship with Linus Pauling, who was a Professor Emeritus at Stanford and, at 93, was running The Linus Pauling Institute with Jeff as his Director of Nutritional Supplement Analysis. I was giving serious thought to going to college. I had recently taken the SATs (at 33 years of age, I was older than the proctors in the room), and was looking at Indiana University and several other places as possibilities to get myself formally edumacated. Jeff was going to help get me an interview at Stanford. I clearly remember that two fears came up almost simultaneously: that I would not get accepted at Stanford, and that I would.
The other job offer was the one I took: to come to Southern California and work for Jeff Katke and Metagenics.
I often think about how different my life would have been had I taken the offer from Jeff Bland. I think I would have been accepted at Stanford and would have finished my undergrad, and then almost certainly I would have gone into a postgrad program and probably a PhD, or maybe med school. Today I could be a tenured professor looking at retirement, or I could be in practice someplace. It’s also conceivable that I would have eventually gone back into the business world, and even be doing something similar to what I’m doing now, but it would have been a very different journey. While that scenario is a strong possibility based on my interests at the time, of course many other scenarios are equally likely.
I had dinner with Jeff Bland a while back, and brought this topic up. I wasn’t looking for validation that I chose the right road; we just talked about how things turn out. When I took the job at Metagenics I didn’t think of it as passing up on a college degree; in fact when I got to California I eventually enrolled in a local community college to take some evening courses just to see how it felt (it felt great!). Even now, nothing is preventing me from going back to school if I so choose.
But if I had taken the academic route, I would not have met Cathy. I would not be living in Seal Beach nor have been happily married for more than 25 years. My circle of friends would be totally different. I have stayed friends with Jeff Bland; when we spoke about this we agreed that might not have been the case if I had gone to work for him; perspectives change. Our relationship certainly would have been different. In fact, my whole life would have been different. And probably neither better nor worse; just different.
Interestingly, most people misunderstand the point of Frost’s wonderful poem. A more careful reading shows that Frost was not saying one path was better because it was less traveled; in fact, there was no detectable difference between the two paths. A few lines before the “less traveled” phrase, Frost writes:
Each path was essentially the same. He’s not saying he was more virtuous or adventurous in his selection; he simply decided on one of two equally-untrod paths. I selected the path I did, and that has made all the difference.
About BigBill
Stats: Married male boomer. Hobbies: Hiking, woodworking, reading, philosophy, good conversation.