ＨＯＭＥ 015 The Roads Taken and not Taken

2003年八月去 Sherwood Forest 參加 Robin Hood Festival 時，攝於羅賓漢當年出沒的雪伍德森林。
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

The Road Not Taken
by 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 marked 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.

這首英文詩是高中英文課時惟一能夠讓我覺得英文課有趣的一篇文章，而它之所以能夠讓我覺得有趣，不是沒有理由的。

畢業近十年，我大概換了四五條跑道，雖然每一條跑道都待了兩年以上，還不算太過「草莓」，但是，或許是因為這些跑道之間的關聯性實在很弱，再加上個性不好，一路走來，所做的決定很少得到旁人的支持。老爸為了我要去英國念一個和本行毫不相干的學位大動肝火，老媽在我每回辭職的時候碎碎念個不停，老師在同學會上當面說我不務正業，至於親戚、同學和路人甲的驚訝表情和白眼，那還真是沒少過。

不過後來證明，趁年輕時多學一點東西（雖然有點雜亂無章）是不會有錯的。

目前的這份工作，從我大學本科的東西，到這些年來在那些亂七八糟的跑道上所學到的東西，都派上了用場，甚至包括我原本打算轉業所做的「練習」，也都發揮了某種程度的作用。

最近我常常想起當年剛畢業的時候所面臨的抉擇，當時我很清楚，自己無法在本科的大環境裡有什麼發展，但同時又覺得，如果這樣什麼都沒學到就轉頭離開，這個缺口是永遠都沒辦法補起來的。於是乎，這隻老鼠就這麼跑到某家以嚴苛聞名的單位撐了兩年（並且在那之後再也沒有做過本科的工作），當年所有學長姐、學弟妹和同學知道我沒打算繼續深造，卻跑去那裡自討苦吃，都覺得非常詭異，而老媽甚至在我離開那個單位之後，直言說我根本是在去那裡浪費自己的青春。

但是，如果沒有那兩年的訓練，現在的我工作起來會吃力很多。

我不知道自己以後還會不會換工作，不過我現在可以很坦然地說，I just took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.