Spork in the Road

For this assignment, I had to write an essay about one of the sayings on my "10 Things I've Learned So Far" list. This assignment was done in English class and was later put on this webstie in Web/Audio. The first paragraph is an image paragraph, where I had to give the reader a good visual on what was happening and my saying without totally giving it way. The rest of the paragraphs were explaining what the image paragraph means, and what the phrase means to me personally. I also give a real-life example of my chosen phrase, which is "When faced with the decision between choosing an easy path or a hard pather, as long as they reach the same destination, choose the easy path."

One road becomes two, splitting off into different directions. The first path, a dirt road, leads to the left. What can be seen connecting to the dirt road is a dark forest. Many large, tall, and bushy trees sprout up from the ground, covering the bright sky. Entering the forest would surround me in darkness, making it impossible to see. However, what I can see from here is the monsters roaming inside the forest, roaming around the wooden trunks of the trees. Glowing, yellow eyes staring back at me. A faint outline of a horrific body is all I can see in the pitch black. The forest gives an eerie feeling, one that makes anyone’s spine shiver in cold and fright. The other path, a concrete road, leads to the right. From what can be seen is nothing but a slightly curvy road that goes forward. The road is well built, featuring no cracks or wreckage or monsters of any kind. A yellow, dotted line cuts the road in half, as if it was built for vehicles. This path gives a strange sense of security, as if I can trust that road with my life. What stands in front of me, between the two roads, right at the intersection, is a white, wooden sign. On the top line, it reads, “<----- Destination”, and on the bottom line, it reads, “Destination ----->”. Which road do I choose?

It always bothers me when people decide to choose the hard way just for the sake of it being a “more difficult challenge”. I prefer always going the easy route whenever possible, simply because the easy way can usually get you to a desired destination. Why bother picking a more difficult choice of action when you can simply get it done quick and painlessly? It seems that humans in general will sometimes pick the more difficult choice of action simply because of pride, or perhaps because they believe they will gain something great out of it. Of course, if the hard way leads to something more that gratification, then by all means go down that path. However, if you get the same result as someone who would go down the more convenient path, then what’s the point?

It’s hard to describe one particular point in my life where I benefited from choosing the easy way. My life has just begun, and while so far choosing the easy way has mostly benefited me, it is hard to tell if that will be the case in the long run. For instance, sophomore year I dropped out of MEHAP and took a regular history class. I took the hard path, regretted it, came back, and went down the opposite, easier path. At first, I was worried that I wouldn’t get into the college of my dreams because I dropped out of an AP class, but doing so led me to a fantastic semester with a free period of 6th period. I had a great time hanging out with friends who also had a free 6th period, and it also forced me to do my homework, so I always got it done. It seems that by taking the easy way, I was able to get out of a class I hated and into a class I enjoyed - plus, I got all my homework done early! While this is fantastic, perhaps dropping out of MEHAP will affect me later in life because I didn’t have enough AP classes, or the college I want to get into frowns upon seeing the dropped class. So while it does take time to fully decide whether or not taking the easy path is the right choice, it seems as though it did help me in the beginning greatly. Perhaps in the future the roads may cross again, but for now, I was able to get to my desired destination of passing my new history class with an ‘A’.

While it is always important to challenge yourself, it is even more important to know your limits. I did not know mine, so I will forever have a ‘dropped class’ on my college transcript. However, by changing paths to an easier one, I was able to get a good grade in a great class. Next time I hope I can make the decision to choose the easy path, rather choose a hard path that will inevitably fail. When faced with the decision between an easy path and a hard path, as long as they reach similar destinations, choose the easy path.