A very meaningful story:

The Road Much Less Traveled

There were two routes that would take me to my best friend's house: the superhighway, a straight and colorless dash cut through the mountains, and the winding Old Motor Parkway, which had been all but forgotten. I always took the superhighway, and I did so without thinking. It seemed the easiest path to follow, and it was the route everyone else seemed to be taking. It was the safe route.

One day though, when my life was in turmoil, I noticed the bettered sign for Route 461. Why not, I wondered, why not take the road much less traveled and see where it took me? I realized that I'd spent my life taking the safe roads, following traffic, without giving much thought to the possibilities of other paths.

So instead of once again playing it safe, I turned onto the road that held the promise of adventure. And as I drove along, I discovered many things:

There were big potholes everywhere that had never been repaired. Thick clumps of grass were growing right through the cracked surface.

There were no signs or directions of any kind.

There were no services at all. I passed an old gas station, but it obviously had been abandoned long ago.

I had to swerve to avoid a hunk of rusting metal in the middle of the road. I think it might have been an old engine.

Much of the parkway was impassable, so I kept having to take detours.

And so, I learned an important lesson that day. There is a good reason people don't take the roads much less traveled. They're dangerous and it can take you more than twice as long to get to your destination.

From that day on, I've always taken the roads much more traveled, and I have never had to swerve to void (sic) a big rusting metal thing again.

Bruce McDonald

--- Chicken Poop for the Soul - Stories to Harden the Heart and Dampen the Spirit, by David Fisher