Robert Frost talked about the importance of taking the road
less traveled. In his eyes it has “made
all the difference.” What difference is
he talking about? How do we know what
the differences are if we only get to travel down one path at a time? We don’t really get to compare. Or do we?
I am now 13 months into my service, pretty much smack dab in
the middle. I have reached the peak and
am looking downhill towards the other side.
The only issue with traveling downhill is things tend to pick up speed. It boggles my mind that an experience I
dreamed about doing 4 years ago has not only come to reality, but now it is
almost half way over. Where did the time
go? I remember when people told me to
enjoy college because it is the only time you will ever live that way in your
life and it will go by quick. I
definitely could say the same thing about being in Guyana. Those words resonate even louder as we say
goodbye to the group above us- GUY23. It
seems like we just met them, our big brothers and sisters, our guides and
mentors who taught us how to navigate this once foreign place. We have lamented their struggles and cheered
their successes and no matter what, we have seen them leave here as changed individuals. It reminds me that I am not here forever. That a once far off dream will eventually
give way to the next one. That I need to
hold on even tighter to the moments I have gingerly cupped in my hands because
they too will slip through the cracks like tiny grains of sand.
When you are this far into your service you tend to forget
just how far you have come. You start to
regard everything as normal and matter-of-factly. Fortunately, there have been some visitors to
refresh my perspective. I had the
opportunity to work with Builders Beyond Borders (B3), a group that takes young
high school aged students to different communities around the world to help
build much needed edifices. They do a
lot of hard, manual labor for the week, but they definitely have some fun
too. I felt like it would be a bit
daunting to interact with a bunch of teens from an affluent community in
Connecticut, but it actually went really well.
It was enjoyable to talk about some familiar things from the U.S. and
they had a ton of question about Guyana. They did sacrifice part of their spring break
and raised money to help build a community center just to work all day in the
hot sun to get it built. I think that is
pretty generous. It was fun to play tour
guide and share different foods or explain why people sip or grown men carry
around little birds in cages. I took
them around New Amsterdam, in which it was pretty funny to see the Guyanese react
to 30 white people getting off of a bus in the middle of town. It was also strange because I felt like I was
caught up in between the American world and the Guyanese world. At times I felt like I was going back and
forth explaining what was going on with everyone and trying to figure out where
exactly I fit in. One of the girls from
the B3 group said she liked the way I talked.
I was amused because I don’t think I really talk much different than before.
Working with the B3 group made me realize a thing or two
about this so called “road less traveled.”
A few of the leaders expressed their affinity towards Peace Corps. They all seemed pretty interested in the
experience and a bit remorseful about not having been a volunteer in their past. Even though it hasn’t always been easy, I am
very grateful that I am living that “experience” instead of being somewhere else
wishing I had done it. As Mr. Frost
laments, even if he had “marked the first [path] for another day”, “knowing how
way leads on to way” he “doubted if [he] should ever come back.” We don’t
really know what our lives will be like choosing one path over another but once
you choose a path it can be hard to go back.
Ultimately, you will be a
different person than before and the two paths you have to choose from might
look very different as well. I doubt I will
ever live the exact same way I do now nor will I have the opportunity to for a
while.
Being around a bunch of high school students also reminded
me of how much I have grown. I thought about my high school self and all of
the different experiences I have had on the way to where I am now. I can tell you I have changed a lot because
of those experiences. I hope I will always been open to new
experiences and adventure, to eat foods that I am not familiar with, to go out
and explore the trail that just might lead to a beautiful place, or to sit down
and be endlessly intrigued by someone else’s life story. I am not sure if those are things along the
road less traveled, but I can tell you those things are not a priority on
everybody’s road. Has doing some of
these things made all the difference? You
might have to ask my former high school self what she thinks of me now, but I
have a hunch she is leaning towards yes.
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