LIFE OFFERS CHOICES AT EVERY STEP





Pic.: Sunitha Sujir

Life offers choices at every step along my journey. Right when I open my eyes , every morning, I have this choice to make:  to wear a smile on my face and feel grateful in my heart or to wear a grim look on my face and feel bitter and lost in my heart…
There are a dozen things around me, at any given point of time, for which I must wear a smile on my face and feel grateful in my heart… Yes, that choice is offered before me right as I open my eyes, every morning.
I am conscious of the thoughts dominating my mind almost all the time… There are thoughts of fear, anxiety, hurt and anger on the one side… and, there are thoughts of faith, confidence, forbearance and peace on the other side. “The world is full of harshness… Don’t trust,” says one side. “The world is full of innocence… Please trust,” says the other side. I am conscious of what happens when I choose to listen to one of these two voices…
Like Robert Frost, I, too, see before me two roads diverging in two different directions… One of them more traveled, the other less traveled… Is there more harshness in this world or is there more innocence? Are there more number of untrustworthy people out there or are there more number of trustworthy ones? Need I step out of my door wearing a protective shield or need I do it with my open arms?

“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I took the one less traveled by…
And that has made all the difference.”

Yes, like the Poet, this is what you and I, too, will be telling with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence. 

GERALD D’CUNHA

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