I suppose if we think about it, the lyrics from ‘A Different Corner’ could ring true in a metaphorical sense on lots of levels …work, sport, relationships. ‘Turn a different corner and we never would have met.’ There are so many twists of fate that bring us to where we are today, that I often think about those lines. They are tantalising when you think about it. Have you ever been talking to someone and then found out that before you knew them you were literally schooling, living, working, enjoying life a short distance away, but never met? Or shared similar friends but never met? It begs the question… Are we the masters of our own destiny? Are we meant to meet these people somewhere along the line… but it just takes time… Are we meant to eventually run that marathon or get that job? Or is destiny thrust upon us? Do we really choose to be where we are, even though we appear to make choices? Did we just make a number of little decisions that added up to our eventual current place in time? If we could choose from the start, would we go for an unfettered simple route but less pleasing or would we opt for a rocky road with twists and turns that lead us eventually to where we want to be? Then there’s the destination – when do we know when we are there? Are we ever there?
The people we see in everyday life have alot of influence on us and yes we do too on them. Whether we know it at the time or not, these relationships continue to form who we are and either help inspire us to achieve or not to achieve. You hope that you will be lucky enough to be around the good influences. Or that you make a lasting positive impression on those around you. If we’re lucky enough, we can meet friends for life. Some are fleeting, some are more earnest. Some you never know where they’re pitched…
A poem I really like is the one below… Do you know it? See what you think if not …
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.
