I was inspired by an article in February’s Greene Scene written by Vicky Hughes. In Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken”, the traveler chose the road less trodden. Life is full of choices, taking the easy path is the path to failure.
Years ago, and I do mean years ago, my mother would tell us, “As the wind blows so blows the tree.” Meaning that a person is influenced by his peers. “You know your friends are in trouble again,” she would say. “ I don’t want you hangin’ out with them. If you get into trouble with them, you can’t blame them. Birds of a feather, flock together.”
As a parent, there were kids in our neighborhood that I didn’t want my kids hangin’ out with. My mother’s words echoed. I thought, “Your choice in friends directs your life. Your life evolves with the choices you make. Making you who you are today.”
As I grew older, I realized that mom’s old sayings were true for adults as well. We all know many people who have made bad decisions in their lives. They were unsatisfied with their careers, their marriages, and their lives. They did not set out to be that way, but they made some bad choices in life.
My son and I often went to Pizza Hut after his wrestling matches. We discussed motivation and goal setting. On the back of a placemat, I wrote the framework of what would later become a poem.
“What do you want to be when you grow up? What choices do you need to make to get you there? Don’t wait too long. Don’t wish that you would have, could have, or should have, later in life”.
Wilt Thou Wind, or Wilt Thou Tree
By Kenneth A. Marley
As the wind blows, so blows the tree.
Hints that circumstance, makes us to be.
But its choice, not circumstance that shapes our
destiny.
Wilt thou wind, or wilt thou tree?
It’s choices, small choices, along life’s way.
That made you what you are today.
You are what you are because you chose to be.
Wilt thou wind, or wilt thou tree?
Woe is the man on his death bed lament.
A tree he’s become, though not his intent.
He could have been the wind, how easy to see.
But he made the wrong choices and became a tree.
It’s not the fault of circumstances. Choices were made since you were old enough to make them. And it was those choices that brought you to where you are today. Are you the wind or the tree?
In the end, don’t wish that you would have lived your life differently. You only get one. Live it, choose wisely.
“I took the one less traveled by and that made all the difference.” – Robert Frost
