What if I don’t take the road less travelled? Will that make all the difference? What if I stay on the road most travelled?

There’s obviously advantages to staying on the road most travelled otherwise there wouldn’t be all these people on it.

You get companionship. Someone is always there to bond with or commiserate with who’s been through it or is going through it. Knowing you don’t have to go it alone can be a source of comfort and community. Warning signs abound whenever you come across roads less travelled to keep you safe. There are lots of signs.

Now of course the road most travelled has lots of rules to keep you on the path. People get a little annoyed if you don’t follow the rules. While the people are certainly there to help you if you wander and falter, they’re also the first to point out even the most imperceptible waiver. Stay on the road.

Now we’re not really sure who made all these signs and rules up so it gets difficult to question them sometimes when they seem a bit irrational or contradictory. There is no casual rhetorical questioning. To question one is to question them all. Doubt is not a valued characteristic on the road most travelled.

Another advantage is that the road most travelled is safe and calculated. It is designed to keep you safe on the way to the destination. You can be assured that you will all end up at the same place. It’s fairly equitable and it’s hard to ask for much more than that in a topsy turvy world.

Now we’re not really sure where that destination is so it’s hard to judge whether or not we want to go there. Maybe some of the others on the road most travelled know but since they’ve never left the road most travelled they can’t judge the destination in context so they don’t really know anymore than you.

And the road most travelled has order and structure. You know where things belong. You know who belongs where. You don’t have to expend energy questioning. You can concentrate on moving ahead.

Now we’re really not sure who fabricated these structures and don’t always understand the hierarchy.  We know that moving around in the hierarchy is frowned upon. We’re sure there’s a sign notifying us of this somewhere.

The odd thing about the road most travelled is that despite the copious dire warnings posted on the entrance to every road less travelled there is not one gate or a lock or a door to stop you from going down one. Yet while roads less travelled are often overgrown it is clear someone has gone down the roads before.

The other odd thing about these roads less travelled is that there always seems to be an attraction on the road most travelled just across from it promising an easy reward, a cheap thrill or momentary distraction to keep you moving down the main road. I don’t know who built those things but they’re everywhere.

Two of my favorite signs warning of the dangers of roads less travelled are “Low Visibility Ahead” and “Blind Corner.” Apparently the inability to see far into the future is considered a danger to be avoided at all cost. Sure you can’t see far down the road less travelled but is the view really any more obscured than on the road mostly travelled where your vision is always obstructed in some way by the horde in front of you. True, if the body in front of you doesn’t fall into a bottomless pit you probably won’t either.  But if the body in front of you does fall into a bottomless pit, the unstopping mob behind you will push you in anyway.

The interesting thing about the roads less travelled is that they almost always have a passage back to the road most travelled. That’s right. Sometimes you can come back. And the people on the road most travelled will welcome you back. Now granted you might have to wear a big red letter “F” for Failure around your neck as a condition for coming back. There are rules, you know.

But guess what? Screw that. There’s a code for the roads less travelled too. The code says that you can chuck that red “F” anytime you want and get back on the road less travelled. No questions asked.

And that’s why you take the road less travelled.