The Road Not Taken: Useful Resource

The Road Not Taken

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.
-Robert Frost

The poem above is one that I was introduced to in year 2003. Growing up, my family did not have it easy. We came to the US in 1996 after escaping our homeland Iraq, during the Gulf War of 1990. Learning English was a struggle for me, and being under the poverty line made it hard to feel acceptance from my peers. My school counselor presented me with this poem. She explained to me that our past does not determine what kind of person we will be in the future, but that our actions do. She said that there are a lot of negative statistics surrounding refugee families who have endured war and that it would be my choice as to what I can do with my past. Growing up, it was hard on me to take the road less traveled. To not give into the peer pressure that was surrounding me was a challenge I handled very well. It is important to emphasize the importance of being an individual to our children and youth, being you is the best you that you can be!