Road Not Taken
posted under
corny
by Alan
I've had this blog for about a year now, and I haven't ever decided to post on here. But as of today, I'm actually going to start rambling about things online for all to see, even though most people don't really care about this!
Anyway, to begin, I'm going to write about my recent trip back to Taiwan, and as corny as this sounds, when I went in early June, I was immediately reminded of the Robert Frost poem, "The Road not Taken." I'm not quite sure exactly what triggered this-whether it was thinking about the life I would have made of studying and my probable path down the sciences there or something else that I can't quite put my finger on. But my first day in Taipei was actually also the day of the high school entrance exams. Dad and I took a morning walk, the first I've had in a while, and we stopped at a nearby high school, the Normal University High School or something, where I had seen the little middle-schoolers coming in and taking their exams.
Fast forward a few days and seeing David (for those who don't know, he's a friend from first grade) made me think of this even more as I realized that everything from the personality I've developed to my eclectic hobbies never would have happened had I stayed in Taiwan. Even more interesting was when we went to visit my elementary school, Fu Hsing, and saw my first and second grade teacher and her "entourage," consisting of her sister, her daughter, and a friend whose relation to her I can't pinpoint. Anyway, it was searingly clear at that point that somehow I had changed completely in my personality from a shy kid who used to cry during group piano lessons when he had to leave his mom to someone who could entertain a stranger at the drop of a hat. Maybe I can attribute moving to this, but maybe this would have all happened anyway. But here's what happened. While David stayed completely silent even though he had been pretty well-remembered at that school, his mom was the one who did all the talking for him and I started talking to everyone whom I met. Whenever I would talk, he would never cut in. I don't know if it's because he's shy or what, but he actually talked to me about this and said that it was one of his problems. So maybe the two of us have somehow become the opposite ends of the spectrum when we were really quite similar when we were kids. Anyway, this got me thinking quite a bit and made me want to visit David's high school, which is considered the best high school in Taipei, just to experience what could have been had I stayed in Taiwan.
So I did. On the day I went to CKS Memorial Hall and discovered to my horror that they aren't letting people fly kites there anymore (there's going to be another post on this I'm sure), I dropped by the high school that David went to. When I got there, it was lunch hour and I somehow successfully wandered into campus and started taking pictures. Now, imagine this. A random guy walks into a high school and starts taking pictures. Where was security? What if I wasn't me and I was some weird guy taking pictures of the students? What then? In case someone did try to kick me out, I made sure all my pictures did not contain people.
It was a weird feeling walking into that place. It wasn't anything like Foothill, I mean, just look at that beautiful facade. But even outside of that, I looked at the concrete buildings inside and thought of my Fu Hsing. I looked into the empty classrooms and saw what could have been. What could have been me, sitting there, perhaps unknowingly stifled and thinking that I was happy, clinging onto test scores as the only testament to my achievements. Gone would have been working on the newspaper, being president of CSF and getting to leave for lunch early or getting up on stage to speak, or getting to walk into the office undeterred and welcomed. I never would have gone to Boys State, I never would have seen the West Wing, and I probably never would have begun to develop an interest in anything extracurricular.
But what would I have had? Putting my lunch in these metal containers and steaming them every day? More recognition and participation in my social life on my parents' part? Maybe I would have been able to go to a Science Olympiad. Maybe I would have been able to be more than I am now. Maybe I'd even be playing basketball because I'm actually average height in Taiwan.
I can spend all day speculating about what may have been, but that's when Robert Frost comes to mind.
"The Road Not Taken"
Robert Frost
I don't care if I look at the end literally or ironically-that choice to move has made all the difference.
Anyway, to begin, I'm going to write about my recent trip back to Taiwan, and as corny as this sounds, when I went in early June, I was immediately reminded of the Robert Frost poem, "The Road not Taken." I'm not quite sure exactly what triggered this-whether it was thinking about the life I would have made of studying and my probable path down the sciences there or something else that I can't quite put my finger on. But my first day in Taipei was actually also the day of the high school entrance exams. Dad and I took a morning walk, the first I've had in a while, and we stopped at a nearby high school, the Normal University High School or something, where I had seen the little middle-schoolers coming in and taking their exams.
Fast forward a few days and seeing David (for those who don't know, he's a friend from first grade) made me think of this even more as I realized that everything from the personality I've developed to my eclectic hobbies never would have happened had I stayed in Taiwan. Even more interesting was when we went to visit my elementary school, Fu Hsing, and saw my first and second grade teacher and her "entourage," consisting of her sister, her daughter, and a friend whose relation to her I can't pinpoint. Anyway, it was searingly clear at that point that somehow I had changed completely in my personality from a shy kid who used to cry during group piano lessons when he had to leave his mom to someone who could entertain a stranger at the drop of a hat. Maybe I can attribute moving to this, but maybe this would have all happened anyway. But here's what happened. While David stayed completely silent even though he had been pretty well-remembered at that school, his mom was the one who did all the talking for him and I started talking to everyone whom I met. Whenever I would talk, he would never cut in. I don't know if it's because he's shy or what, but he actually talked to me about this and said that it was one of his problems. So maybe the two of us have somehow become the opposite ends of the spectrum when we were really quite similar when we were kids. Anyway, this got me thinking quite a bit and made me want to visit David's high school, which is considered the best high school in Taipei, just to experience what could have been had I stayed in Taiwan.
So I did. On the day I went to CKS Memorial Hall and discovered to my horror that they aren't letting people fly kites there anymore (there's going to be another post on this I'm sure), I dropped by the high school that David went to. When I got there, it was lunch hour and I somehow successfully wandered into campus and started taking pictures. Now, imagine this. A random guy walks into a high school and starts taking pictures. Where was security? What if I wasn't me and I was some weird guy taking pictures of the students? What then? In case someone did try to kick me out, I made sure all my pictures did not contain people.
It was a weird feeling walking into that place. It wasn't anything like Foothill, I mean, just look at that beautiful facade. But even outside of that, I looked at the concrete buildings inside and thought of my Fu Hsing. I looked into the empty classrooms and saw what could have been. What could have been me, sitting there, perhaps unknowingly stifled and thinking that I was happy, clinging onto test scores as the only testament to my achievements. Gone would have been working on the newspaper, being president of CSF and getting to leave for lunch early or getting up on stage to speak, or getting to walk into the office undeterred and welcomed. I never would have gone to Boys State, I never would have seen the West Wing, and I probably never would have begun to develop an interest in anything extracurricular.But what would I have had? Putting my lunch in these metal containers and steaming them every day? More recognition and participation in my social life on my parents' part? Maybe I would have been able to go to a Science Olympiad. Maybe I would have been able to be more than I am now. Maybe I'd even be playing basketball because I'm actually average height in Taiwan.
I can spend all day speculating about what may have been, but that's when Robert Frost comes to mind.
"The Road Not Taken"
Robert Frost
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.
